99 

esteemed honest and patriotic men, but were too timid for the 
crisis. They faltered and shrunk from responsibility and dan- 
ger, when they should have been firm and brave. The conven- 
tion of Pennsylvania at once recalled its quaking delegates, 
and elected in their places, Colonels George Boss, James Smith, 
Dr. Benjamin Rush, George Clymer and George Taylor. 
Though the Declaration of Independence was adopted on the 
4th of July, it was not signed until the 2d of August, 1776, 
when the new delegates from Pennsylvania were present, and 
affixed their names to it. The convention selected the majority 
Df the new delegates from the interior of the Province ; Coh 
Ross, from Lancaster, Col. Smith, from New York, and George 
Taylor, from Northampton, James Wilson, being then from 
Cumberland. Mr. Wilson, as has been stated, was of Scotch 
nativity, whilst Col. Smith and Mr. Taylor were Irishmen, all 
of whom had long been in the Province and identified with its 
best interests, and were ready to jeopard all that was dear to 
bhem, in defence of the liberties and independence of their 
adopted country. Amongst the other signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, were a number of Scotch or Irish nativi- 
ty, or their immediate descendants. 

The spirit of the Presbyterian ministers, on the side of 
A.merican Independence, was exemplified by the Rev. John 
Witherspoon, D, D., and LL. D., President of Princeton Col- 
lege, of Scotch nativity and education, and eminent for talents, 
[earning and eloquence. He was a member of Congress when 
the Declaration of Independence was reported, and was before 
the House for the signature of its members. Some seemed to 
waver, and deep and solemn silence reigned throughout the 
Hall. This venerable man, casting on the assembly a look of 
inexpressible interest, and unconquerable determination, re- 
naarked : "That noble instrument on your table, which insures 
immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morn- 
ing by every pen in the House. He, who will not respond to 
its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into efi'ect its pro- 












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TO THE 



PBINCIPLES, VIRTUES, HABITS AND PUBLIC USEFULNESS 



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OF PENNSYLVANIA 



BY A DESCENDANT. 



CHAMBERSBURG, PA: 

M. A. FOLTZ, PRINTER, "PUBLIC OPINION" OrFinE, 

187 1. 



TRIBUTE 



TO THE 



PRINCIPLES, YIRTDES, HABITS AND PUBLIC USEFULNESS 



OF THE 



xizli antr Btoitli ^arlg §tttUxB 




BY A DESCENDANT. 



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i BY GEORGE CHAMBERS. j^"^ 



CHAMBERSBURG, PA: 

M. A. FOLTZ, PRINTER, "PUBLIC OPINION" OFFICE. 
1871. 



W' 



PREFACE. 



The "Writer of the Tribute contained in this work, had long desired to see 
from the Historical publications in Pennsylvania, a vindication of the 
character and principles of the Irish and Scotch early settlers of this great 
State and their descendants against rpproach, as well as aspersion, cast upon 
them in some modern compilations having pretensions to Historical ac- 
curacy. 

Appreciating highly the religious and moral character, intelligence, in- 
dustry and energy of those settlers, as well as their great usefulness in 
raising the standard of education — in promoting religious Christian influence 
— in defending the frontier against the wars of the French and Indians, and 
in their patriotic devotion of their lives and fortunes to the cause of Ameri- 
can Independence; he did think if there were any class of citizens of Penn- 
sylvania entitled to gratitude and reverence, not only from their descend- 
ents, but from all others enjoying the blessings of a home and a re>:idence 
under this free government, it was the Irish and Scotch early settlers of 
Pennsylvania. 

The events in the lives of these men, and the incidents of the times in 
which they were actors, political, civil, religious or military, which led to 
the prosperity of the State and the establishment of the free institutions 
under which we live, prosper and are happy, should be to every American 
citizen objects of peculiar interest. 

Instead of acknowledgments of gratitude and reverence for the men who 
were the pioneers of the Province of Pennsylvania, laying broad and deep 
the foundations of its prosperity and republican government, we have been 
chagrined to find them slighted in some historical compilations of Pennsyl- 
vania History ; whilst by others, we have been incensed at the unjust and 
unfounded aspersions cast upon the race. 

Having the blood of some of those early settlers flowing in our veins, 
and having been born, ever lived and prospered on Pennsylvania soil, we 
feel as if we were under obligations, in common with many others, to come 
up to the vindication of the reputation of ancestors, who long since have 
rested from their labors, and who by toil and sacrifices, did much to achieve 
the inheritence Avhich their posterity and others are enjoying. 



IV. PREFACE. 

We have presumed to offer the sketch herein contained as our Tribute to 
the memoi-y and reverence of those settlers. The writer, feeling as if the 
gand of his Time glass was nearly run out, and that he ere long must be 
laid aside from labor, and that if any thing were done by him in vindication 
of the principles, virtues and habits, of these settlers of a past age, it must 
be done quickly — has hastily thrown together in his leisure hours, taken 
from other avocations, the remarks contained in the subsequent pages. 

It has little merit, other than a compilation from public documents, 
tistorical records, and traditions from reliable sources, together with some 
observations of the writer, whose reminiscences go into the past century. 

It is but a summary of facts and illustrations and an outline to be ex- 
tended by some one better qualified, having more time and better access to 
historical collections of the early history of Pennsylvania, of which there is 
a dearth. It will be ample gratification to him if this Tribute shall be a 
leader to some more extended vindication of the character of the Irish and 
Scotch early settlers of Pennsylvania, which will be worthy of a place 
amongst the historical records of this great State. 

The author acknowledges his obligations for information, in the prepara- 
tion of this work, to Dr. Foote's Sketches of North Cs.rolina — and Virginia 
— Day's Historical collections — Dr. Smith's Old Redstone — Dr. Alexander's 
Log College — Dr. Miller's Life of Dr. Rogers — Dr. Elliott's Life of McCurdy 
and others — Craig's History of Pittsburg — Hazard's Colonial Records and 
Archives of Pennsylvania, and American Archives by Force — and Gordon's 
History of Pennsylvania — Mr. Rupp's — Histories of Lancaster, Cumber- 
land and Franklin counties. 

Chambersburg, Fa. 1856. ' G. C. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Classes of Emigrants — Dissensions — Rivalries — James Logafi 
— Dickinson — Franklin in opposition to Emigrants — Mri 
Days Accusation — Trespasses on Lands claimed hy 
Indians — Their complaints — Redress — Other causes of 
dissatisfaction with the lohite Inhabitants and Proprie- 
tory Agents — Traders — and French Influence — Causes of 
War. 

The Province of Pennsylvania was early attractive to emi-, 
grants from other countries. It was recommended by its free 
and constitutional government — by the character of its funda- 
mental Laws, adopted and established by the first emigrants to 
its territory — its fertile soil, salubrious and temperate climate 
— its adaptation to a large and rural population; with advan- 
tages for trade, commerce and manufactures. The dissatisfac- 
tion prevailing with large classes of intelligent, industrious and 
enterprising men, under several of the European governments, 
directed their attention to the American colonies, and to men 
of this character, Pennsylvania was generally preferred for their 
abode, after the organization of its government. 

The population of Pennsylvania was made up of emigrants 
from various parts of Europe. They were not homogeneous, 
but were diversified by their origin, religious principles, habits, 
and language. They were united in devotion to the principles I \ 
of the Keformation, and in favor of civil and religious liberty. \ 
Equality of rights and the liberty of worship according to the 
dictates of conscience, were standard principles so founded and 
guarded, that no party or power dared to assail them. These 
established and avowed principles made Pennsylvania a desira- 
ble asylum for the oppressed and persecuted of all nations. 

The diversity which characterized the inhabitants, divided 
them into three classes, whose separation was maintained un- 
broken for some generations, and is not even yet eff'aced. They 
were the English, the Scots and Irish, and the Germans. The 
associates and followers of Penn, who were amongst the first 



6 

to establish her government, were an honest, intelligent, virtu- 
ous, peaceful and benevolent population, known in England 
and the Colonies by the name of Friends or Quakers. Much 
of the wealth of the Province was with them, and as their 
location was in the city of Philadelphia, or in the country near 
it, they were influential in the organization of the Provincial 
government. They were able also, from their numbers to 
maintain an ascendency in the Assembly, and control its legisla- 
tion. As the Proprietory was, in his associations and principles, 
of their Society, there was generally harmony and correspon- 
dent sentiment between the Quaker party and the Proprietory 
and the officers of his appointment, most of whom were of the 
Society of Friends. The Quakers were an orderly, industrious 
and law abiding people, cultivating peace with all men. They 
had their peculiarities of dress, manners, language and religious 
worship, opposition to war and military service, which dis- 
tinguished them from the other population of the Province. 

The Germans were of different denominations of Christians 
and various origin. The Swiss Mennonites were amongst the 
earliest who entered this Province, about the beginning of the 
last century. They came in considerable numbers and settled 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, about Pequea and other 
parts of what formed Lancaster county. They were orderly, 
industrious and frugal farmers; peaceful and honest in all their 
relations and dealings. They resembled the Quakers in 
opposition to war and military service, and in maintenance of 
peace principles. The Lutheran and German Peformed Germans, 
who had been emigrating since 1710, settled before 1720 in 
considerable numbers in parts of what are now in the counties 
of Montgomery, Bucks, Berks and Lancaster. Others of the same 
class continued to arrive yearly, and in some years the influx 
of these German emigrants was so great as to alarm some of 
the English first settlers, lest the Germans should make a 
German province of Pennsylvania. Amongst these Germans, 
though mostly Lutheran and German Reformed, there were 
some Mennonites and Dunkards. 

The French Huguenots who settled in Pennsylvania were 
but few, some of whom settled about 1712 on Pequea creek, 



whicli seems to have been an attractive country for settlement 
to emigrants from different parts of Europe. 

These Germans were a hardy, frugal and industrious people, 
and in many districts have preserved their foreign manners 
and language. They have established in every part of the 
State, communities much respected for religious and moral 
character; many of them emigrated for conscience' sake, and 
others to improve their condition and circumstances. Their 
industry and frugality have enabled them to add greatly to 
their own wealth and resources, whilst they were increasing 
that of the Province and State. "With most of this class, 
education has been promoted, and their descendents, in acquire- 
ments and intelligence, are in advance of their ancestors, and 
many are amongst the most respectable and useful citizens of 
the Commonwealth, whilst they have, by branches of their 
families, contributed greatly to the industrious and useful pop- 
ulation of several of the Western States. 

Emigrants from Scotland and Ireland constituted a large 
portion of the early settlers of Pennsylvania. Many of these 
were called Scotch-Irish, from the circumstance that they were 
the descendents of Scots, who had by the government been 
encouraged to take up their residence in the north of Ireland, 
and to the improvement and civilization of which they had 
greatly contributed; but being oppressed by the tyranny and 
exactions of a despotic and profligate monarch, and the re- 
strictions and penalties imposed by an obsequious parliament, 
as well as the intolerance and persecutions of a haughty hierar- 
chy, expatriated themselves, with their families to the American 
colonies. To these were added many of the native Irish from 
the north of Ireland, as well as emigrants from Scotland. 
Pennsylvania was the selection of most of them, when they 
considered, that, under the charter of Penn and the fundamental 
laws of the Province, they could enjoy civil and religious 
liberty. They sought an asylum from Church and State intol- 
erance and oppression, if it were to be had only in the wilder- 
ness of another continent, under a government of equal rights. 
They were nearly all Presbyterians in their Church relations, 



8 

and many of them had settled in Pennsylvania before the close 
of the seventeenth century. 

The emigrants from Ireland and Scotland approached so close 
in national character, and were so congenial in sentiments, 
habits and religious principles, having in the land from which 
they emigrated, suffered from common grievances, that they 
were identified as one people. As professors of religion, they 
united in church organizations and worshipped together at the 
same Christian altars. 

The first settlements of this class were in Bjigks^ounty, but 
chiefly in the territory, which, in 1729, was organized into the 
county of Lancaster. Settlements were made in it about 1717, 
on Octorora creek, and about the same time or earlier, in 
Pequea, and in 1722 in Donegal and Paxton. In 1730 and '34, 
the same class of emigrants, with the license of the Proprie- 
tory government, located themselves in the Kittochtinny valley, 
west of the Susquehanna, where they increased rapidly and in 
a few years formed there a large, respectable and influential 
community. 

Under a free government of equal rights, with political 
power accessible to all ,the citizens, it was to be expected that 
amongst these different classes or races of emigrants, there 
would be rivalries and competition, as well as jealousies of 
ascendency and political power. They would be apt to differ 
in their opinions of public measures, as well as in their predi- 
lections for the men who were to establish measures or execute 
them. 

The Quakers had the advantage of the other classes, that 
they were parties to the first organization of the government, 
and in the establishment of the three first counties of Phila- 
delphia, Chester and Bucks, and in regulating their representa- 
tion. In those counties they had the majority of the inhabitants, 
which enabled them to elect as members of Assembly and 
Council, such as were entirely acceptable to them. 

Their majority in the Assembly, which prevailed for a long 
time, made its legislation to conform to their wishes and prin- 
ciples ; the Proprietory, who belonged to their Society, being 
disposed generally to co-operate with them. 



n 



From the great influx of emigrants from Ireland, Scotland 
and Germany, there was every prospect, that the control of the 
Legislature of the Provincial government would pass from the 
hands of the Quakers into that of one of these other classes^ 
and that they, who had been instrumental in establishing the 
government and putting it in operation, should be reduced to a 
powerless minority. 

In the early administration of the Provincial government^ 
James Logan was a prominent, intelligent and influential mem- 
ber, being for many years a member of Council, and also the 
President of Council, as well as enjoying other high and im- 
portant offices. Though of Irish origin, he had become affili- 
ated with the Society of Friends, of which he professed to be 
one. He adopted their principles and manifested his willing- 
ness to maintain them, except he was disposed to go further for 
the defence of the country against its enemies, and was not 
entirely adverse to all military measures. 

He had, however, the confidence of the Quaker party, who 
retained him in influential stations of the government, as long 
as his health and age would allow. Logan saw clearly, from 
the accession which the Province was yearly receiving of sub- 
stantial, intelligent and respectable emigrants from Scotland 
and Ireland, that the Quaker rule in the government would be 
restrained or supplanted. He knew well the character of his 
countrymen, to be inquisitive, energetic, and independent. 
They would know their rights, and knowing them, would dare 
to maintain them without the fear of man. It was not to be 
expected that men, who had scrutinized and contested the 
powers of a royal government, were going to live passive under 
the administration of a government in which they had equal 
rights with all its citizens. The day must come, when their voice 
would be heard, felt and respected in the government of the 
Province. 

They did exercise their right of suffrage at the elections in 
Lancaster and York counties, in opposition to the candidate 
selected from and supported by the Quakers. They were 
sometimes successful in their opposition, and in the election of 



10 

their own candidates. In these election contests there was much 
excitement and feeling, and they were attended with irregular- 
ities, disorder and breaches of the peace discreditable to the 
authors ; yet, these excesses were short of like disorders and 
of the frauds committed on the elective franchise, in these 
days of progress and refinement, under the laws of our great 
Republic, and which are to be reprobated as great public 
ofi"ences, subversive of the rights of the citizens and the purity 
of elections, and reproachful to the law and its officers. In 
these election contests the Germans generally took part with 
the Friends and supported their candidates. The German 
Mennonites accorded so much with the Quakers, in their oppo- 
sition to military service, supplies or measures of defence, that 
they were the partisans of the candidate supported by the 
Quakers. About this time James Logan began to undervalue 
his countrymen, and speak disparagingly of emigrants from 
Ireland as being undesirable settlers. 

In 1729 he expresses ''himself glad to find that the Parliament 
is about to take measures to prevent their too free emigration 
to this country." "It looks," says he, "as if Ireland is to send 
all her inhabitants hither ; for last week not less than six ships 
arrived, and every day two or three arrive also. The common 
fear is, that if they continue to come, they will make themselves 
proprietors of the province." "It is strange," says he, "that 
they thus crowd where they are not wanted." What made 
him pronounce them "audacious and disorderly," was, that 
they entered on and settled lands in the southern part of 
Lancaster county, towards the Maryland line, "York Barrens," 
without approaching him to propose to purchase, and when 
challenged for their titles, said, as their excuse, "that the 
Proprietory and his agents had solicited for colonists and that 
they had come accordingly." 

And in 1725 he complains "that there are so much as one 
hundred thousand acres of land possessed by persons (including 
Germans), who resolutely set down and improve lands, without 
any right, and he is much at a loss to determine how to dispos- 
sess them." 



11 

He also represents the Irish emigrants as ''troublesome 
settlers to the government and hard neighbors to the Indians." 
In placing an estimate upon the opinions of Logan, respecting 
the Irish emigrants, regard must be had to his position at the 
time in the government. He had so long enjoyed a command- 
ing influence in the affairs of this government, under Quaker 
rule, that he was jealous of any power that would thwart him 
in measures and policy, or impair his influence. There were 
parties under the provincial government, as well as under that 
of the Commonwealth. The Governor had his friends and 
partisans and the Assembly theirs; whilst the Council went 
with one or the other as they were inclined. Between these 
there were conflicts in the exercise of their respective powers 
that were marked with feeling and excitement. Logan was the 
leader of the Proprietory party and had to encounter often 
opposition and defeat from the Assembly. The Irish and 
Scotch vote in the Province was becoming larger, and command- 
ing, and often exercised control in the election of members 
of Assembly and other officers. Logan had occasion to know 
its power and opposition, and would have preferred an un- 
broken influence in the Council and in the measures of govern- 
ment. He was generally in opposition to Governor Keith, 
decidedly the best a.nd most popular of the Proprietory depu- 
ties, and was thus arrayed against the popular will,, of which 
the intelligent and patriotic emigrants of Ireland and Scotland 
were influential exponents. There is much reason to believe 
that it was this limitation on his power in the government, 
that made him hostile to Irish and Scotch emigration, and led 
him to speak disparagingly of their character, as well as disposed 
to adopt the policy of restraining their emigration into the 
Province, by prohibition or taxation. 

His declaration was, ''that the common fear is, that if they 
continue to come, they will make themselves Proprietors of the fi 
Province." He would have preferred that the government ■ 
should continue permanently under the rule of the Quaker 
party, though the population of the Province could be numbered 
by hundreds, and its cultivated lands by a hand-breadth. 



12 

A like prejudice was exhibited about the same period, in. 
another quarter, against the German influence in the Province. 
The influx of German emigrants was so great as to cause alarm 
to some politicians. It was feared by them " that the numbers 
from Germany, at the rate they were coming, in 1725 — '27, 
will soon," as Jonathan Dickinson expressed himself at the time, 
"produce a German colony here, and perhaps such an one as 
Britain once received from Saxony." Jonath an Dickinson was 
respected for integrity and intelligence, having the public 
confidence. He had held the ofiices of Chief Justice of the Prov- 
ince, Speaker of the Assembly, and member of Council. This 
apprehension led to the imposition of a tax, by the Assembly, 
on German emigrants, to discourage their emigration to this 
Province. 

Even the great, liberal and sagacious Franklin allowed pre- 
judice to influence his gigantic mind, in the view which he took 
of the German population of Pennsylvania, when, in 1755, he 
addressed the British public in favor of excluding any more 
Germans from the Colonies.* Franklin, we might suppose, 
would have discriminated between the intelligent, moral and 
industrious portion of the German population, that were de- 
sirable as settlers, for good and usefrJ habits, and who in time 
would comprehend their relations to a new government and 
conform to its requisitions, and the immense swarms of Palatine 
Boors who were landed in the Province, ignorant, indolent, 
unruly and vicious. 

In those days of party divisions and dissensions, this eminent 
and patriotic statesman did not escape reproach and calumny 
in high places. " Governor Morris, under the influence of 
angry feelings, accused Franklin to the ministry, of using his 
office of Post Master General, to obstruct the King's service ; 
and to the Proprietories, of the design of wresting from them 
the government."t Franklin devoted his time and labor to 
the discoveries of science and to promote the prosperity and 
welfare of his country, and lived to establish a reputation for 
genius, ability, integrity and patriotism that is imperishable. 

* Spark's Franklin. Vol. 7, p 71. 
t Gord. 330. 



13 

Time and experience reconciled him, and the wise and good of 
all parties, to the great acquisition in the German emigration, 
for the growth, resources and prosperity of Pennsylvania as a 
Province and State. 

A representation unfavorable to the character of the Mennon- 
ites was made to Governor Gordon in 1727 : "That a Large 
number of Germans, peculiar in their dress, religion and notions 
of political government, had settled in Pequea and were de- 
termined not to obey the lawful authority of government; 
that they had resolved to speak their own language, and to 
acknowledge no sovereign but the great Creator of the universe." 
Opposition was made to their admission as citizens, and it was 
not until 1741, that a law was passed for their naturalization. 
They had declared their readiness to pay their taxes and that 
they were subject to those in authority. 

From their conscientious scruples against bearing arms, they 
did not enter the army to fight the battles of the country, but 
when Independence was acknowledged and a new government 
organized and established, they were obedient in all things to 
its requisitions. They have ever been in Pennsylvania a 
peaceable, industrious and moral community, paying their 
taxes regularly, avoiding strife, and living in peace with all 
men, with whom they had intercourse. They never allow the 
poor members of their society to be a public charge, but support 
them in the society. 

The Quakers, who had a majority in the Assembly, and who 
could and did control its Legislature, in the early history of the 
Provincial government, were subjected to severe strictures, for 
their neglect and unwillingness to provide for the defence of 
the frontier of the Province, against the many cruel murders 
perpetrated by the Indians on the inhabitants. 

The numerous petitions of the inhabitants of the frontier in 
1754, after the defeat of the Virginia troops under "Washington, 
and again after Braddock's defeat in 1755, imploring from the 
provincial government measures for their defence a.nd pro- 
tection, had but little regard from the majority of the provincial 
Assembly, and led to the adoption of no efficient measures for 



14 

the relief of the alarmed inhabitants and their families ; and 
when the Indian war broke out in all its fury, along the ex- 
tended frontier of the Province, and carried massacre into 
hundreds of defenceless families, sparing neither age nor sex, 
the government had not furnished a single soldier, arms or 
ammunition, either for the defence or aid of the frontier. 

The inhabitants of the frontier finding that their repeated 
applications, as well as their unmitigated sufferings from expo- 
sure to savage enemies, were disregarded by the majority of 
the Assembly, though Governor Morris had pressed upon their 
attention, the measures of defence, demanded by every obliga- 
tion of duty as well as humanity, in 1756, their memorial was 
sent to the King, and Royal government, respecting the defence- 
less state of the Province, and praying the interposition of the 
King, for the protection which was witheld from them by the 
Assembly of the provincial government. The petitioners, as 
well as Assembly complained of, were heard by their 
agents and respective counsel, before a committee of the Privy 
Council of the Koyal government. That committee, after con- 
sideration, by their report which was approved by the Board, 
"condemned the conduct of the Assembly in relation to the 
public defence since the year 1742." Their expressed opinion 
was, that the Legislature of Pennsylvania, as of every other 
country, was bound by the original compact of government to 
support such government and its subjects. That the measures 
intended for that purpose by the Assembly, were improper, 
inadequate and ineffectual, and that there was no cause to hope 
for other measures, whilst the majority of the Assembly con- 
sisted of persons, whose avowed principles were against military 
services, who, though not a sixth part of the inhabitants of the 
province, were, contrary to the principles, the policy and the 
practice of the mother country, admitted to hold offices of trust 
and profit, and to sit in the Assemblies without their allegiance 
being secured by the sanction of an oath. This report was 
adopted by the Privy Council, and a copy directed to be sent 
to the Province.* 



Gordon's Hist. 337, 339. 



15 

The repeated complaints of the inhabitants, against the 
remissness and neglect of a Quaker Legislature to provide for 
the defence of the frontier, were thus sustained by the Royal 
government. When the opinion of the ministry on the conduct 
of the Quakers was communicated to the Provincial Assembly, 
some of the members of that society resigned their seats. 
Others declined re-election, and some flattered they could recon- 
cile their consciences with the measures of the Assembly. 

The dissensions between the inhabitants of the frontier in- 
terior of the Province, who were mostly of Scot or Irish origin, 
with the Quaker party, were still continued with excited feel- 
ings and prejudices on both sides. The Scotch Irish freemen 
complained whilst they had increased greatly in numbers, and 
were opening out the wilderness, and extending cultivation, as 
well as defending the frontier of the Province at the expense 
of their blood and lives against the Indians and the French 
allies, who were the public enemy of the country, they were 
without the assistance and protection from the provincial gov- 
ernment, to which they were justly entitled, and amongst the 
grievances complained of influencing the legislation of the 
Assembly to their prejudice, was the inequality in 1764, in the 
representation of the counties, the three counties of Philadel- 
phia, Chester and Bucks, with a Quaker population having 
twenty-six representatives, whilst the counties of Lancaster, 
York, Cumberland, Berks and Northampton had collectively 
but ten members. 

The dissatisfaction existinpr between the Scotch and Irish] 

! 

inhabitants and the Quakers under the provincial government,; 
was the occasion of criminations and recriminations. The/ 
Quakers charged the Scotch Irish with being haters of the; 
Indian, inimical to him and as exciting the Indian wars by; 
their encroachments; whilst the Scotch and Irish inhabitants^! 
in their memorial to the Koyal government, charged the Quakers' 
with secretly supporting the Indians, by holding treaties and \ 
correspondence with them during the war; ''and of having 
bestowed on them arms, ammunition and tommahawks, even 
when they were murdering the frontier inhabitants."* The 

* Gordon's Hist. 422. 



16 

opinions and accusations of both parties, were made, it is 
believed, under a cloud of prejudices, excited by partisans, with 
discolored representations, and founded on slight evidence, 
weighed in scales held by a partial hand. 

Time and experience proved the policy advocated by politi- 
cians of distinction in the Province, of restraining the emigra- 
tion of both the Irish and Germans, into the settlement of its 
wild land, to be so short sighted and contracted, that, if adopted, 
would have been ruinous to the fundamental interests of the 
Province and its government. The opinion of such politicians 
deserves but little regard, in their estimations of the principles 
and character of whole and numerous classes of their fellow- 
men, who are commended or censured as they accorded with, 
or opposed their views or purposes, in times of party excite- 
ment, when there is a contest between such leaders for official 
power and influence. Their opinions receive their bias and 
coloring from their own selfish feelings, and fluctuate with the 
rise and fall of parties. 

Had the policy advocated by Logan, Dickinson and Franklin 
been adopted as a permanent one, in the provincial government, 
of restraining emigration, by which the population demanded 
for its security and prosperity, and which has elevated it to the 
highest rank in the American colonies, was to be excluded the 
privilege of an asylum on its territory; these excluded 
emigrants would have sought permanent homes in other 
colonies, and the growth and improvement of Pennsylvania 
have been greatly retarded. 

Without the aid, strength and resources afibrded to Penn- 
sylvania by its emigration of Irish, Scotch and Germans from 
1725 to 1750, who would have been the pioneers of its immense 
wilderness, opened out its unbroken forests, cultivated its lands, 
and, in the infancy of the Province, reared so many habitations 
for Christian families, or erected in the "back woods" so many 
edifices, dedicated to the worship of the God of their fathers ? 
Without such emigration, before the Indian wars, the frontiers 
of the Province would have extended little beyond the Schuyl- 
kill, and the citizens of Philadelphia, with their wives and 



17 

children, would have been exposed to the torch, hatchet and 
scalping knife of the savage, and their midnight murderous 
assault and slaughter, and the Kittochtinny valley in its 
length and breadth, have remained a wilderness. "Without 
such emigrants and their descendants, how few would have 
been found in Pennsylvania the advocates of American Inde- 
l^endence and resistance to Eoyal usurpation and tyranny, and 
who would have filled up the ranks, or commanded the arijaies 
of Pennsylvania in the war of the Kevolution, in wh^h the 
liberties of the American people were defended and their in- 
dependence established. 

A more impartial age has expunged from historical record 
the prejudices and aspersions, which in the early history of 
this Province, were cast on the German population, or the 
Society of Friends, and they have been allowed to pass almost 
into oblivion, and if recalled, it is only to make known the 
occasion of their existence and the temper, feelings and rivalry 
which brought them to life. Both of these great classes of the 
early settlers of the Province, are respected and commended 
for their virtues and usefulness. 

Why is it, that a like liberality and justice, are not extended 
to the Scotch and Irish settlers of Pennsylvania and their 
descendants? Why is time not allowed to cast a shade over 
accusations against them, which had a like origin in party 
rivalry, and no better foundation, than bad temper and perver- 
ted judgment? 

"Were their evil deeds so many, and great that the mantle of 
charity can neither conceal nor cover them ? If so, where is 
the evidence of them ? 

They were men, who laid broad and deep the foundations of | 
a great Province, and who, with a master's hand, erected a ' 
structure of Government that was stable, capacious and elevated ; 
whose prosperity and greatness commands admiration, and 
which, by public accord, constitutes the great Key Stone of the 
political Arch of the American Union. 

The men, who were instrumental in this structure of gov- 
ernment, with its free institutions, of religious and civil liberty, 



18 

were more than ordinary men, to hold the plough and handle 
the axe, or ply the shuttle. They had other qualities, We 
would infer from their works, than enterprise, energy, bravery 
and patriotism, and they were not surpassed, for lofty virtue 
and consistent piety. 

When we survey the Kittochtinny valley, between the Sus- 
quehanna and Potomac, with its cultivated and improved farms, 
flourishing towns and villages, its church edifices, in which 
Christian worship, and ordinances, are regularly observed — 
seminaries of learning of every grade, its high intellectual, 
social and moral condition, and remember that little more than 
one century since, the same valley was a wilderness — its pop- 
ulation the Indian hunter, and its habitations the hut of the 
savage or the dwelling of the beaver, are we not led to inquire, 
who, under God, were the authors of this great work ? A large 
portion of the population of this valley, at the present time, 
are the descendents of its first settlers. Do they not feel, that 
to their ancestors and their memory, they owe a debt of end- 
less gratitude, for their works and services? Are they not 
interested in knowing and proclaiming the principles, that 
guided the first settlers in making this valley the abode of civil- 
ization and the homes of an intelligent, enterprising, religious 
and moral community? Who is it, that now shares the common 
blessings, that result to the now comfortable and independent 
occupants of this delightful free valley, from the privations, 
toils, sacrifices, persevering industry, and virtue of the men, 
who dwelt in it when a wilderness, and transformed it to culti- 
vated fields, meadows and gardens, with commodious and elegant 
dwellings, that does not feel an interest in knowing the charac- 
ter of those who accomplished so much, for those of this gener- 
ation and their posterity? Other communities of the same 
Scot and Irish origin, have at an early period, peopled other 
parts of Pennsylvania, whose progress, improvement, principles 
and virtues, were attended with the same happy success and 
prosperity, as characterized this portion of the Kittochtinny 
.valley. The Scotch and Irish element was here more universal, 
and extensive, and embracing a larger community of the same 



19 

religious creed, and forms of worship of tlie same homogeneous 
tastes and principles. 

The characer of the people who first settle any country, 
or establish their government, generally determines that of 
their descendants. Such is our estimation of the character, 
principles and habits of the first Irish and Scotch settlers of 
this province, that all their descendants may, we think, be 
satisfied to have their character measured by the same standard. 
"What Pennsylvania is, as a great and prosperous State of free 
Institutions, she owes to the mass of her original settlers. 

Justice has not been done to the Scotch and Irish race, in 
the Histories of the American Colonies and States. In some 
instances they are slighted, and in others traduced. For per- 
mitting this without rebuke and vindication, their descendants 
are not free from censure. The character of their ancestors is 
part of their inheritance, which they are bound by every ob- 
ligation of duty, to reverence and defend. 

To the Puritan settlers of New England there has been a 
different measure of justice, respect and honor. Their princi- 
ples, virtues, institutions and public usefulness, have not only 
been recorded on the pages of History, but in numerous 
eulogies and addresses, on the return of the anniversary of the 
Landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Eock. "Whilst the sons 
of New England, unite yearly, in bearing their testimony and 
tribute to the purity and transcendent merits of their ancestors, 
the descendants of other races, throughout the Republic, concur 
in honoring their memory, and in commemorating their prin- 
ciples and virtues. There were errors and public wrongs that 
were reproachful, imputable to some of the first settlers of 
New England ; chargeable to individual communities and 
arising out of the State of the country, prejudices, excitement, 
and delusions ; but Historic truth does not require, that they 
should be permanently recorded to their reproach, without an 
exhibit of the extenuating circumstances, under which they 
originated, and much less, that the misdeeds of individuals, or 
of a limited community, should be proclaimed as a stigma on 
the whole Puritan race, of the New England colonies. Blem- 



20 

ishes that might be found, in the early history of these colonies, 
have been allowed to pass into oblivion; and lost in the efful- 
gence of the mass of excellence, which adorned the character 
of many, of the early settlers of New England. 

To the credit of New England men, they have led off in 
paying an early tribute, to the memory of their ancestors, by 
recording and perpetuating their principles, patriotism and 
public usefulness. Such was the position of the colonies of 
Massachusetts, and Connecticut, during the Kevolutionary 
contest, and the War of Independence, that their history and 
that of their inhabitants, in earlier times are matters of national 
interest, and deserving of national gratitude, and reverence. 
Whilst we accord to the early settlers of New England great 
merits, and eminent usefulness, it is believed that the Scotch 
and Irish early settlers of Pennsvlvf.nia, Virginia and North 
Capalinajji energy, enterprise, mtelHgence, patriotism, religious 
and moral character, the maintenance of civil and religious 
liberty and inflexible resistance of all usurpation in Church or 
State, were not surpassed by any class of settlers in the 
American colonies. Has this high character been regarded, 
and acknowledged as it deserved, by the compilers of History 
in Pennsylvania ? It has not. Some compilers of local history 
in Pennsylvania, have accorded to the Scotch and Irish early 
settlers, religious and moral character of a high standard, as 
well as great public service and usefulness ; whilst the authors 
of some historical collections and memoirs have indulged in 
wholesale accusations to their reproach. 

The aspersions cast upon the ancestors of the mass of the 
best citizens of this State, require investigation, and that the 
accusers furnish the evidence to which they refer, in order to 
sustain their calumnies. From the acquaintance of the writer 
with the character of the Irish and Scotch settlers, who were 
the early actors in the settlement of the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, he affirms that the accusations and reproaches thus im- 
puted to the Scotch Irish race in Pennsylvania, are unfounded 
and unjust. 

If such accusations, to the reproach of our ancestors, who 
have been in their graves for a half century or more, be allowed 



21 

to pass without contradiction or refutation, time and repetition 
may give them currency and credit ; and the fair fame of the 
men who had high claims on the country and posterity, for a 
life of labor, industry, toil sacrifices and peril, in its improve- 
ment, defence and prosperity, may be unjustly prejudiced in 
the estimation of readers, who may take their opinions from an 
author, who has adopted some stale and selfish prejudice, which, 
in its origin, had neither foundation, credit, nor influence. 

Mr. Sherman Day, in his Historical Collections of Pennsyl- 
vania, (in 1843, page 23), in speaking of the Scotch Irish, 
says, they were "a pertinacious and pugnacious race," "push- 
ing their settlements upon unpurchased lands about the 
Juniata, producing fresh exasperation among the Indians. 
Massacres ensued, the settlers were driven below the mountains 
and the whole Province was alive with the alarms and excite- 
ments of war." 

The only approach to a specification, is by Mr. Day, wherein 
he charges upon the Scotch Irish, the encroachments upon the 
unpurchased lands of the Indians about the Juniata, and the 
massacre and war, which ensued from these encroachments. 
For a charge so grave and reproachful, as being the authors of 
the savage war, that desolated the border settlements of the 
Province, the reader is not referred, by Mr. Day, to either 
dates, events, or any historical record, or document to verify 
the accusation. We are unwilling to believe, that Mr. Day had 
any disposition to misrepresent the Scotch Irish of Pennsyl- 
vania; but as his historical work was a hasty compilation of 
much general and local history, opinions and statements may 
have been adopted, without full investigation, and the preju- 
dices and misrepresentations of the leaders or classes, opposed 
to the Scotch Irish race in the Province of Pennsylvania, re- 
ceived as veritable history, in which he was misled, and his 
publication made the instrument of wrong and injustice, to a 
numerous and most respectable class of citizens. 

The wars between the Indians of Pennsylvania and its white 
inhabitants, did not occur before 1755, the year of Braddock's 
expedition and defeat. Then, and for some years preceding, 



22 

the Scotch and Irish emigrants constituted the great mass of 
the effective population of the Province. They were settled 
in great numbers in various parts of the county of Lancaster, 
on the southeastern and western borders of York county, in 
the county of Northampton, and formed nearly the entire pop- 
ulation of the Kittochtinny valley, in the county of Cumber- 
berland, between the Susquehanna, and the Potomac rivers. As 
the cession by the Indians, in 1736, of their claim to lands 
west of the Susquehanna, and to the Kittochtinny mountains, 
as a western boundary, together with the adjustment, in 1737, 
of the temporary line between the Provinces of Pennsylvania 
and Maryland, left this great valley, between these rivers, open 
to settlement ; the influx into it of substantial settlers of Irish 
and Scotch origin, was great, after 1737, and continued with 
little abatement for many years. Yet, with all this influx of 
settlers and appropriation of land, it is believed, that in 1750, 
more than one half of the arable land, in this valley, desirable 
for both fertility and other advantages, was still open for entry 
and settlement. At that time, there were in the Kittochtinny 
valley, about one thousand families, and in the counties of 
Cumberland and Franklin, which embrace this part of the 
same valley, it appears by the United States Census of 1850, 
that there were then in occupation 4,089 farms. From the 
condition of this valley, as an agricultural district, it is mani- 
fest, that, in 1750 and before, there was vacant land within its 
boundaries, that was suitable and desirable for a settler, greatly 
beyond what was required, to satisfy the wants or reasonable 
demands of emigration. It does not appear from Provincial 
records, that the Indians at any time, complained of the 
settlements in the Kittochtinny valley, west of the Susque- 
hanna. These settlements were made under licenses from the 
Proprietory government, before the cession, with the approba- 
tion of the Indians, and after the cession, by official grants 
in the regular form from the Land Office, to which Indian con- 
sent was not wanting. 

The complaints by the Indians of encroachments, by the 
white inhabitants, on their unpurchased land, were in 1742, 



23 

and after; and were confined to illegal settlements on lands in 
Tulpehocken, on the Juniata, Aughwick, Patli Valley and on 
Licking Creek, near the Potomac river, which embraced the 
Big and Little Coves. These settlements, with the exception 
of Tulpehocken, were in a mountainous country, extending 
from the Susquehanna to the Potomac, a distance of eighty 
miles, being west of the Kittoch tinny mountains, and most of 
them west of the Tuscarora. Mr. Day, in the extract from 
his History recited, referred only to the Juniata, as the locality 
of the Scotch Irish encroachments, which were so offensive to 
the Indians. There is the highest authority, being that of E. 
Peters, Esq., Secretary of the Provincial Government, in his 
Peport to the Governor, that the first settlers, who entered 
on the unpurchased lands at the Juniata, were Germans,* and 
were followed by some Irish emigrants, and at the visit of Mr. 
Peters, he found but six. The settlers who entered on the 
lands at Tulpehocken, before the purchase, were, German Pa- 
latines, who came from the Province of New York.f 

The settlements in Path valley, Sherman's valley, and 
Aughwick, were made up of a few fafuilies of Irish and Ger- 
man origin ; whilst those on the Licking creek hills, near the 
Potomac, were by settlers, most of whom came from Maryland 
and claimed under Maryland rights, and consisted of emigrants 
from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Germany.^ The provin- 
cial boundary line having been extended by survey only to the 
summit of the Kittochtinny mountain, it was still uncertain 
how much of the Licking creek hills or coves were within the 
boundary and jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, which was not 
established until by the Mason and Dixon Line in 1767. It 
was on this district of uncertain jurisdiction that the Indians, 
with their French allies, made their first bloody and murderous 
slaughter of the defenceless settlers and their families, in Octo- 
ber, 1755. 

Immediately after the organization of the county of Cum- 



* Vol 5, Col. Rec. 445. 

t Vol. 3, Col. Rec. 323. In all visited by R. Peters and Magistrates, 62. 

t Vol. 5, Col. Rec. 445. 



24 

berland, in 1750, the Provincial government took measures for 
the removal of the settlers west of the Kittochtinny and 
Tuscarora mountains. Eichard Peters, Esq., Secretary, with 
the aid of the magistrates and sheriff of Cumberland county^ 
repaired to the several places of settlement, being accompa- 
nied with delegates from some of the Indian tribes, and an 
interpreter. The measures of these officers were effective. Th ^ 
settlers were required, to abandon their dwellings, which were 
destroyed and burned, and compelled to enter into recogni- 
zances for their appearance at the next Court in Cumberland 
county, to answer for their breach of the Law. The settlers, 
disclaimed right, acknowledged their offence and acquiesced in 
the requisitions of the magistrates, and the destruction of their 
houses, with the exception of one man, who resisted with 
threats, and was disarmed and imprisoned. The number of 
settlers found at these several places, amounted to sixty-two. 
To whatever class of emigrants they belonged, they could not 
be considered as either "pertinacious," or ''pugnacious." 
Their possessions were in the wilderness, remote from the 
settlements, and if lawless and disposed to resist the officers of 
the law, and oppose their purposes, it might easily have been 
effected. They were submissive, and under the most trying 
circumstances of a summary expulsion, with their families, 
from their dwellings which were burned in their presence, they 
were left in an unbroken mountain forest, without a habitation 
or shelter of any kind, for their families. The secretary and 
magistrates executed this public duty, with fidelity to the 
Indians and Provincial government, and with as much lenity 
to the settlers, as the execution of the law would allow. 

The magistrates of Cumberland county who assisted in the 
performance of this painful duty, were of Scotch or Irish origin 
or descent ; and were under no legal obligations to leave their 
homes in the Kittochtinny valley and seek offenders against 
the law, by traversing the wilderness for more than fifty miles,, . 
and crossing rugged and elevated mountain ranges, by the 
Indian or Traders Path, and then impose, and execute summa- 
ry, rigid punnishment on men and their families, for a trans- 



25 

gression of the laws, arising out of the indulgence of the 
proprietory government, and their ignorance of the law and its 
penalties. 

Benjamin Chambers and George Croghan, two of their Jus- 
tices, and who were of Irish nativity, without the aid of Mr. 
Peters, visited the settlers, eleven in number, on Sherman's 
v.reek, and adopted and executed the same measures for their 
removal, and the destruction of their houses. Whatever 
sympathy they may have felt for them, some of whom, no doubt, 
were their countrymen, yet their sense of public duty, made 
them enforce the law, whilst they had to witness the great 
distress of poor sufferers in its execution. 

Such is the history from public documents of the encroach- 
ments by the white settlers on the unpurchased lands in Penn- 
sylvania, west of the Kittochtinny mountain, and the measures 
for their removal. "When examined by an impartial and intel- 
ligent enquirer, can they discover anything to warrant the im- 
putation, to the whole Scotch Irish race, in the then Province 
of Pennsylvania, the wrongs committed by a few misguided 
settlers, who, with most peril to themselves and their families, 
from both the Indians and government, ventured to settle in 
the wilderness on unpurchased lands. The great mass of the 
Scotch and Irish settlers, who were cultivating and improving 
their farms, in the remote parts of the Province, knew no more 
probably of the existence or acts of these settlers, than they 
did of their countrymen who might be taking up an abode in 
other colonies or continents. 

Even the inhabitants of Kittochtinny valley, which was 
the settlement of civilization nearest them, were in no respect 
responsible for their acts or character. They were separated 
from them by ranges of lofty mountains, and in place of en- 
couraging their Scotch, or Irish friends, or acquaintances, to 
make settlements, where they would be exposed to Indian hos- 
tility, as well as contravene the law, would have directed them 
to their own attractive valley, where there was abundance of 
fertile vacant land, and where it was desirable as well as politic, 
to increase the numbers and strength of the settlement, by 



26 

every accession of peaceful and industrious freemen. We 
affirm it to be illiberal, and unjust to reproach the Scotch Irish 
settlers of Pennsylvania, as a race, with being regardless of 
the forms of the Land office and laws, pushing their settlements 
upon unpurchased lands, to the exasperation of the Indians, 
because some few individuals of that race, with emigrants from 
other countries, may, under an infatuation that is unaccounta- 
ble, and with an adventurous spirit that was reckless, have 
ventured upon some of those lands remote from the settle- 
ments. 

The insinuation that these encroachments were the exciting 
cause of the war, waged by the Indians on the white inhabitants 
of the frontier settlements, is not supported by public documents. 
The Indians in 1742, and for some years after, did complain of 
these encroachments. The measures of the government in 
1750, in removing the settlers, and the destruction of their 
dwellings by public authority, in the presence of some of the 
Indian tribes, were significant evidence of the energy and sin- 
cerity of the government, to restrain such encroachments, and 
punish the trespassers ; and though these efficient measures 
did not entirely prevent further encroachments by a few roving 
adventurers, it had a tendency to discourage and restrain it, 
as well as to reconcile the Indians, who were but little incom- 
moded or interfered with, by the few settlers who placed them- 
selves on the unpurchased lands, when it was their interest 
and safety to avoid strife with the Indians. 

Whatever dissatisfaction they might still have, and exhibit, 
was quieted, and removed by the Treaty, and cession at Albany, 
in 1754. The lands on which encroachments, had been made, 
west of the Kittochtinny, were an acknowledged part of that 
cession, which the Indians understood, and intended to be em- 
braced by it, and for which alone they said they had received 
remuneration. 

The most early, frequent and continued subject of complaint 
by the Indians, in their conferences with the Proprietory, his 
agents or the officers of the Provincial government, was the 
"long tolerated usage of Traders, licensed by the government, 
carrying to their towns and trading posts, rum and other in- 



27 

toxicating liquors, for traffic, by sale or barter — many of the 
Indians, under the influence of this drink, were tempted to 
part with all they had for it, to their degradation and ruin," 
were excited to broils, bloodshed and murder, and when re- 
stored to sobriety, they found themselves deprived of their 
skins and furs, and were left without any thing of value, to clothe 
themselves or their families, or to procure the ammunition ne- 
cessary to enable them to resume the chase. Their destitution 
made them desperate, and ready to embark in any project, 
though of peril, when there was any hope of plunder or reward.' 

The Governor of Pennsylvania, in his message of 1744, says : 
" I cannot but be apprehensive that the Indian trade, as it is 
now carried on, will involve us in some fatal general war with\ 
the Indians. Our traders, in defience of the law, carry spirit- 
ous liquors amongst them and take the advantage of their in- 
ordinate appetite for it, to cheat them of their skins and their 
wampum, which is their money, and often to debauch their 
wives into the bargain. Is it to be wondered at then, if, when 
they recover from their drunken fit, they should take some 
severe revenge?"* ' 

Though the provincial laws forbade the traffic in intoxicating 
liquors with the Indians, under severe penalties: and procla- 
mations were issued almost annually, by the Governor against 
it, calling on the officers of the government to enforce the laws, 
yet so great were its profits to the trader, and so tempting to 
the poor infatuated sons of the forest, that this vile trade re- 
mained unabated, and was pursued by the white traders under 
license from the Governor to trade, regardless of the law and 
its penalties, and of the evils inflicted on the Indians. 

The injuries done to the Indians, by a few white settlers, 
putting up their cabins and clearing and cultivating a field, or 
a corner of the wild lands of the Province, on which the In- 
dians claimed the right to hunt, were but light and trivial, 
compared to those inflicted on their nations, by the traffic in 
intoxicating liquors, tolerated by the government and practised 
by unprincipled white men. 



Vols, of Penn. Arch Vol. 3, p. 555. 



28 

The great dissatisfaction of the Indians in Pennsylvania was 
with the Government of the Province, and the Proprietory 
agents, arising out of the cessions of land obtained from them 
within the Province. The boundaries of some of these cessions, 
were obscure and uncertain, and yet so comprehensive, as to 
embrace half the Province. It is not to be supposed, that 
there was any design in this, on the part of the Proprietory or 
his agents, that advantage might accrue to the Proprietory 
from the obscurity. 

As there was a great inequality in the capacity of the con- 
tracting parties, in both intelligence and power, it behooved 
the Proprietory and his officers, to use abundant caution in 
making the terms of the cession clearly intelligible, to the 
ignorant and feeble savage. The lands should have been 
bounded by a description, referring to natural boundaries, that 
could not be mistaken, or be open to future cavil. 

The cession of 1737, by the Indians, conveying lands on the 
Delaware, was "to extend hack into the woods, as far as a man 
can go in one day and a half." What a hook was here left 
to hang a controversy on. The Indians soon after expressed 
their dissatisfaction with a boundary so uncertain, and when 
the walk was made, it only tended to increase the dissatisfac- 
tion. The white walkers selected, were so expert and ii# 
defatigable, that the Indians who were to accompany them, 
complained that they could not keep up with the white men, 
who ran.* The wound made by the agents of the Proprietory 
in Indian confidence by this treaty, and the claim and execu- 
tion of it remained long an open one, and could scarcely be 
said to be healed, when the more comprehensive and important 
treaty and cession were made in Albany in 1754, between the 
Proprietory of Pennsylvania and officers, and the Six Nations, 
which swept from under the feet of the Indians, nearly all the 
lands claimed by them within the Province, in consideration of 

* The Proprietory agents had advertised in the public papers for the most expert 
■walkers, to make the walk, offering a reward of five hundred acres of land in the 
purchase, and £5 in money, to the person who should attend and walk the farthest in 
the given time. The walkers desired, entered on this novel race on time, through the 
woods, and though supplied with refreshments at points, without rest or loss of time, 
one of the white" men sank down exhausted, under the effort, and one otily was able 
to continue until the exhaustion of the time. — Day. Col. 508. 



29 

the small sum of £400 pounds. The Indians could not have 
understood this wholesale disposition of this claim to their 
hunting grounds. When they came to consider where they 
stood, and how little was left to them of their wide domain, 
their dissatisfaction was intense and general, but more partic- 
ularly with the Delawares, a small but formidable tribe. They 
alleged, that they only intended to cede the lands unsold on 
which the settlers had encroached, which did not form a tithe 
of what was embraced in the Albany cession. 

To the Indians, the encroachments of the few white settlers 
on the hills, and in some of the small valleys west of the Kit- 
tochtinny mountains, were but a small grievance. The white 
settlements on the east side of those mountains, would make 
the hunting grounds on the immediate border of little value, 
as the game would seek more retired woods, and the Indians 
had for many years before these settlements withdrawn from 
them-. The acts of the settlers were individual wrongs, not 
justified under any pretended right, and which the Proprietory 
government was bound to redress, and which its agents de- 
clared should be redressed, by government authority. But the 
wrongs done the Indians, by the officers and agents of the 
Proprietory and Provincial government, were on a much more 
extensive scale. They were by public authority, in whose acts 
the Indians had reposed confidence, and they were not to be 
satisfied that the marks of a few Indian chiefs to a single in- 
strument of writing, which they could not read, was to be an 
absolute, legitimate and conclusive transfer of their nation's 
claim to the lands of half the Province, and for any wrong or 
fraud perpetrated on them by the public agents, they were 
without appeal to or redress by higher authority. 

The dissatisfaction of the Indians, under the compact of 
1754, were continued without redress from the Proprietory, or 
the Provincial government ; and they were allowed to grieve 
over their lost hunting grounds and the homes of their families, 
taken from them by the public agents and oflicers of a govern- 
ment they had regarded as their friend and protector. 

The French, who were aspiring to dominion in North Amer- 



30 

ica, at the expense of the English possessions, were extending 
rapidly their posts and fortresses, from the northern lakes into 
the valley of the Ohio. Every art and device was used by 
them, to attach the Indians to their influence, and withdraw 
them from English alliance. They, by the line of their forti- 
fications, were more in the neighborhood of the Indian towns 
and hunting grounds, which were to them places of trade and 
barter, for supplies adapted to their condition and wants. The 
Indians had an opportunity of seeing their armaments, and 
military stores, as well as to witness their enterprise, prompti- 
tude and perseverence to further the purposes of their govern- 
ment. They did not admire the pacific temper of the provin- 
cial government, and the few English forces which they had 
seen before 1755, in the Provinces of the English government, 
did not impress them much in favor of the power of the gov- 
ernment, or of the bravery and intrepidity of its soldiers. 

The French ingratiated themselves by presents, and marked 
attentions, that were captivating ; whilst they endeavored to 
impress on them the suspicion that the English, whose settle- 
ments were extending from the Atlantic westward, were in- 
tended to be permanent, and take from them all their hunting 
grounds, whilst they drove them to the extremity of the land. 

The extended dissatisfaction with the English, that followed 
the Albany cession, was opportune for French influence, which 
was at once artfully used, to withdraw the Indian nations from 
English to French alliance. The vast territory obtained and 
claimed by the Proprietories of Pennsylvania, under the Deed of 
1754, was to the Indians a confirmation of the suspicions, that 
the French had endeavored to excite, as to the design of the 
English to take their lands. The French, at a crisis when they 
were preparing for hostilities, were successful in bringing to 
their alliance, the Indians within the Province of Pennsylvania, 
with the exception of a small number. The French posts and 
garrisons now became places not only for Indian resort, but of 
organization and armament, for the approaching war. Indian 
hostilities were soon witnessed, with a vengeance and unparal- 
lelled success in the defeat of Braddock. In a few months 



31 

after, they waged a cruel and merciless war on ttie defenceless 
settlers and their families of Pennsylvania ; also simultaneously 
on those of Maryland and Virginia. The cause of that hos- 
tility could not be mistaken. For a twelve month it had been 
rankling in the breast of every Indian warrior. Their dissatisfac- 
tion was notorious, and yet the Proprietory of Pennsylvania 
and the Provincial government slumbered amidst the indica- 
tions of an approaching war, without any efficient measures to 
avert it or to provide for the defence of the frontier. 

The constituted authorities of the Province understood well, 
at the time, the cause of the Indian hostilities, with which the 
inhabitants were visited. They did not attribute them to the 
encroachments of the few Irish, Scotch or German settlers on 
the unpurchased lands, many of whom, with their families, had 
fallen victims to the savage warfare to which, from their loca- 
tion, they were exposed. The responsibility for these hostili- 
ties was to be charged to those in power and authority in the 
Province. 

Gov. Morris, in his address to the Assembly of Nov. 3, 1755, 
expressly tells them, " that it seemed clear, from the different 
accounts he had received, that the French had gained to their 
interest the Delaware and Shawnese Indians, under the en- 
snaring pretense oi restoriiig them to their country J' 

At a treaty at Easton, in 1756, the Governor desired to 
know of the Indians the cause of their hostile conduct. Tu- 
dyuscung, chief of the Delawares, and who represented several 
nations, replied, ''I have not far to go for an instance; this 
very ground, that is under me," striking it with his foot, ''was 
my land and inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud. When 
I say this ground, I mean all the land between Toheccon 
creek and Wyoming, on the river Susquehanna." 

The Assembly, in their reply to Gov. Denny, in June, 1757, 
say, "It is rendered beyond contradiction plain, that the cause 
of the present Indian incursions in this Province, and the 
dreadful calamities many of the inhabitants have suffered, have 
arisen, in a great measure, from the exorbitant and unreasona- 
ble purchases made, or supposed to be made of the Indians, and 



32 

the manner of making them — so exorbitant, that the natives 
complain that they have not a country left to subsist in."* 
This fact was known to the Royal government, which inter- 
posed its influence with the Proprietories of Pennsylvania, and 
desired that the Indians should be conciliated on the subject of 
the boundary of the Albany cession. This was done at Easton, 
in 1758, by a Deed from the Proprietories by their agents, 
abridging the bounds of the conveyance of 1754, and which re- 
leased to the Indians the lands situate northward and westward 
of the Alleghany mountain. 

The Proprietories of Pennsylvania, in their dealings and ne- 
gotiations with both natives and settlers, were just, honorable 
and generous. They were incapable of any fraud, or imposi- 
tion, and did not allow it to be practised by their agents. Their 
disposition to accommodate the settlers, made them indulgent 
to them for the small amount of purchase money asked for their 
lands, and made them tolerate many irregularities in the ac- 
quisition, and evidence of appropriation of land from regard to 
the wants and necessities of the settlers and exigency of the 
time. A fair settlement, prosecuted with ordinary dilligence, 
without regard to the efficient forms of grant of land provided 
for and required, was yet tolerated and recognized as valid as 
if obtained and prosecuted, in all the form required for official 
grants. 

In their negotiations with the Indians, the Commissioners 
appointed by the Proprietories, were instructed " to conduct 
themselves with candor, justice and humanity." They ever 
manifested their wishes to conciliate them by probity and kind- 
ness. As the residence of the Proprietories, was most of the 
time in England, the management of the affairs in the Province, 
was necessarily committed to their agents, on whose represen- 
tations they were, in a great measure, dependent for informa- 
tion respecting the measures in the Province. They would no 
doubt sometimes be misled by the representations of their 
agents, and redress for alleged wrongs to either the Indian na- 
tions or the white settlers, would, in consequence of the absence 



*2 Smith's Laws, 120. 



33 

'of the Proprietories from the Province, and the few and tardy 
channels of communication there were between the Province 
and England, be delayed, to the injury and dissatisfaction of all 
parties. There would have be-^n no war between the Indians 
of Pennsylvania and its inhabitants, had it not been for the war 
waged between the English and French governments, a part of 
which was transferred to the American continent, where both 
governments were ambitious of extending their dominion. Into 
this conflict the Indians were brought by the French, who had 
been most successful in 1755 in seducing; them into their alii- 
ance. The prominent and influential cause placed before the 
Pennsylvania Indians, to excite them against the English, and 
the Provincial government of Pennsylvania, were the wrongs 
inflicted on them under the Albany cession. The exciting 
cause of Indian hostilities immediately before, and after Brad- 
dock's defeat, is to be traced not to the encroachments of the 
few white settlers, but to the more extensive wrongs by the 
government and its agents. 

The settlers and their families on the frontier, being nearest 
and most defenceless, were the first victims to the attack, in 
which the Indians were encouraged by Braddock's defeat, 
Dunbar's flight with the remains of the army, and the omission 
of the Eoyal and Provincial governments to provide measures 
for the defence of the Province against the terrible incursions 
of the savages, which were to be apprehended ; and were soon 
realized in the murder, and slaughter of the inhabitants, of nu- 
merous settlements, without regard to age, sex or condition. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Detraction of Scotch Irish by Mr. Sargent — Vindication re- 
quired — Where did they reside f — Who and what were- 
they? — Religious and moral character — Religious organ- 
ization — Institutions of learning — William Tennent, 
Senior — Blairs — Finley — Davies — -Allisons — Smiths, and' 
others — Settlement in York Barrens — The me7i from that 
settlement— In Donegal — Paxton — and in western 'part of 
York county, now Adams. 

In the introductory memoir to the Journal of Braddock's ex- 
pedition, by Mr. Winthrop Sargent, published within the last 
year in Philadelphia, by Messrs. Lippencott, G-rambo & Co.,. 
the author has taken occasion to refer to the Scotch Irish race 
in Pennsylvania, in terms so opprobrious, as to call for notice.. 
He says: "They were a hardy, brave, hot-headed race; ex- 
citable in temper, unrestrainable in passion, invincible in pre- 
judice. Their hand opened as impetuously to a friend, as it 
clinched against an enemy. They loathed the Pope as sin- 
cerely as they venerated Calvin or Knox, and they did not 
particularly respect the Quakers. If often rude and lawless,, 
it was partly the fault of their position. They hated the In- 
dian, while they despised him ; and it does not seem, in their 
dealings with this race, as though there were any sentiments 
of honor or magnanimity in their bosoms, that could hold way 
against the furious tide of passionate, blind resentment. Im- 
patient of restraint, rebellious against anything that, in their 
eyes, bore the semblance of injustice, we find these men. 
readiest among the ready, on the battle fields of the revolution,. 
If they had faults, a lack of patriotism or of courage was not 
among the number."* 

This concentrated denunciation, of a numerous race, has a. 
meagre qualification in the preceding page, when it is stated,, 

*Hist. of Cracl. Exp. 77. 



35 

that in eacli of the classes referred to by the author, "were to 
be found men of education, intelligence and virtue." 

For this measure of reproach and opprobrium cast upon the 
ancestors of a large portion of the inhabitants of Pennsjdvania 
and other States, there is no reference to authority or facts. 
The author does not accord to them integrity, enterprise, re- 
ligious or moral character. The character thus imputed to men, 
who did much for the improvement and prosperity of the Pro- 
vince and State of Pennsylvania, and for the defence of civil 
and religious liberty, as well as for the free institutions and 
independence of the Eepublic, is at variance with all that is 
generally received, as matter of historical truth. It is true, 
that error and mistatement on a subject of such interest, should 
be corrected, if they exist. Accusations and reproaches, if 
unfounded, are to be refuted, and the character of men who de- 
served well of society and their country, should be vindicated. 

Character is said to be transmissible, and that the character 
of descendants may be determined by what was that of their 
ancestors. If this be so, it is of interest to inquire into what, 
in truth, was the character of the Scotch and Irish early 
settlers of the Province of Pennsylvania, that their descend- 
ants may know themselves, as well as the character of their 
ancestors. The descendants of the early settlers in Pennnsyl- 
vauia, of Scotch, or Irish origin, have nothing to apprehend 
from the investigation, to the prejudice of their ancestors or 
themselves. To this wholesale denunciation of the Scotch Irish 
race in Pennsylvania, by Mr. Sargent, we propose to reply, 
by inquiring, where these settlers were in Pennsylvania, and 
who they were, and what they w^ere ? 

The accusations made against the men, ''who were actors in 
this Province at " the time that tried men's souls," are to be 
met by the history of the settlements, made, in the infancy of 
the Province, by the emigrants from Ireland and Scotland, 
with their energy, progress, intelligence, religious and moral 
character, social condition, religious, educational and patriotic 
tendencies. 

Their ancestors were not without faults ; they were men with 



36 

their infirmities, and made mistakes. Individuals of the race 
have done wrongs against society, and their brethren, but not to a 
greater degree, than were perpetrated elsewhere, in civilized com- 
munities of the same number in like circumstances. The offences 
of a few infatuated, vicious or turbulent men, under a feeble 
government, are not to be imputed as a lasting stigma and re- 
proach to all of the same foreign origin, dwelling under the 
same government. 

o 

As well might the respectable families of emigrants, who are 
in these days coming to our land, as their future abode, be 
identified with the fugitives from justice, and liberated felons, 
who may have got a passage in the same steamer. Into the 
Province of Pennsylvania, for many years, were shipped from 
Ireland and Germany, great numbers of ignorant and poor sub- 
jects, who were unable to pay their passage, and were sold into 
service for a term of years to the colonists, for the amount of 
their passage money, and were called ''Eedemptioners." They 
were held in service by the farmers and others, to a.=sist in the 
labor required in the towns and country, some of whom became 
useful and respectable citizens, but many were low and vulgar, 
and of disorderly and vicious habits. The English government, 
by its authority, for a time, transported to the colonies many 
of its convicts, against the wishes, interests and remonstrances 
of the colonists, as well as against the public peace and wel- 
fare.* In the most orderly communities, into which a portion 
of such material should be infused, it might be expected; that 
there would be occasional exhibitions of vice, violence and crime, 
to the annoyance of the public, under a new government, with 
few, officers, in an extended and wild territory. 

The first emigrants, from Ireland, to the Povince of Penn- 



* By British policy, the American colonies were mide an asylum for the worst of 
felons, transported to them. Those persons, who, hy their enormous crimes, were 
unfit tor society in EngUnd, were to be let loo^e on society in America, and be deemed 
fit servants for tlie colonists, and that their labor and industry miKht be the means of 
improving tlie saiii colonies, ?)i'yre iisefuUt/ to his mnjest/i. Both Virginia and Maryland 
passed laws in lestrainl of this transportation, which were disallowed by the King and 
Council, as derogatory to the Crown and Parliam?nt. The colonies had still to 
endure the evils of this vicious system from the mother country, for a considerable 
timj without remedy, "It is said, about 17.")(), not less than from three to four hundred 
felon ■< were annually brought to the State of iMaryland.f These convicts had, after 
they landed, the run and choice of the colonies belore them. 



fBritish Empire in Am. Vol. 3, page 23. 



37 

sylvania, came about the beginning of the last century, and 
settled in and near Philadelphia, in the counties of Bucks, 
Chester, and several parts of Lancaster. They were Protest- 
ant Christians, of the Presbyterian denomination, and as char- 
acterized them and their Scotch associates, wherever they form- 
ed a sttlement, as soon as they had reared, or obtained houses 
for their families, they organized congregations for Christian 
worship. For this purpose, they habitually assembled them- 
selves together, holding to the government, creed and doctrines 
of their fathers, as contained in the Westminster ConfessiDu of 
Faith, with its Catechisms, as the rule of Faith and ecclesiastic- 
al organization, which they intended to maintain for them- 
selves and their children ; and which they reverenced, as the 
offspring of the religious liberty, that they sought to found, in 
a Province settled under a Charter, that proclaimed religious 
freedom and equal rights. 

They had fled from civil oppression and religious tyranny, in 
the land of thf^ir fathers, and they hastened, in their new 
homes, to manifest their sincerity and regard for their privi- 
leges, under a government of free institutions, and limited pow- 
ers, by erecting their houses of public worship, called " meet- 
ing houses," dedicated to the only true God. Not being satis- 
fied long with a licensed ministry, that afforded them occasion- 
al supplies, they sought, and had settled Pastors, of learning 
and piety, installed to the office of their Christian minister, who 
was to go in and out before the people, and administer the re- 
ceived ordinances of the Church. 

The first Presbyterian ministers in this country, were near- 
ly all men of liberal education. Some had received their edu- 
cation in the Universities of Scotland ; some in Ireland, and a 
few at one of the New England Colleges. Though there was a 
great demand for ministers, in the rapid settlment of some 
parts of the Province, by emigrants of the Presbyterian denom- 
ination, yet, from Dr. Alexander's research, there would seem 
to have been but one instance, of introducing into the ministry, 
of that Church, a candidate, without a college or university 
education, and that was under extraordinary circumstances. 



38 

The first Presbyterian church organized, with a place of pub- 
lic worship, was in Philadelphia, in 1703, and in the next year, 
or year after, a Presbytery was formed, called the Presbytery 
of Philadelphia. In 1716, the Presbyterian body had so far 
increased, that a synod was constituted, consisting of four Pres- 
byteries, viz: Philadelphia, New Castle, Snow Hill, and Long 
Island. 

''After the formation of the Synod, the body went on in- 
creasing, receiving additions, not only by emigrants from Scot- 
land and Ireland, but also from natives of England and Wales, 
who came to the middle colonies, and were thrown by circum- 
stances, into the neighborhood of Presbyterian |_churches, and 
also from natives, or their decendants, of France, Holland, and 
Switzerland, who preferred the Presbyterian form of worship 
or government. To these, may be added, a number from New 
England, who were induced, by local considerations, or other 
circumstances, to connect themselves with the Presbyterian 
body."* 

As the Irish and Scotch emigrants, generally preferred agri- 
culture, to other occupations, they located themselves in the 
rural districts, on lands open to appropriation in the Province, 
or by purchase from some earlier settler. In consequence of 
this rural taste and settlement, Presbyterian influence and in- 
crease were more manifest, and extended in the country, than 
in the city. 

Settlements of Scotch^Irish were made on the banks of the 
Octorora creek, Lancaster county, in 1717. " They and their 
decendants," says Mr. Pbupp, in the History of Lancaster coun- 
ty, by him compiled and published, ''have always been justl}- 
regarded as amongst the most intelligent people of Lancaster 
county. Their progress will be found to be br.t little behind 
the boasted efforts of the colony at Plymouth. "f They had 
for their pastor the Kev. Andrew Boyd, who preached to them 
in 1724. This testimony to the character of the settlers on 
Octorora, is not from one who can be suspected of partiality, 
from any affinity to the Scotch Irish, but from an impartial 



*Dr. Miller on Presb. Ch., Ency. Rel. Knowl. -fRnpp's His, Lau. 439. 



39 

iiiistorian, of Grerrnan descent, and German religious associa- 
tions. 

A number of emigrants from Ireland, settled about 1720, or 
ibefore, in Bucks county, north of Philadelphia. They shortlj- 
after their settlement, organized Presbyterian congregations. 
One of them became of notoriety in the Province, in having for 
its pastor, the Rev. William Tennent, Senior, who received a 
■call to the Presbyterian congregation on Neshaminy creek, in 
I726,which he accepted. He was an emigrant from Ireland, 
:and had been in connection with the established Church, but 
^shortly after his arrival in America, he renounced his connec- 
;tion with it, and joined the Presbytery of Philadelphia. He 
\was celebrated for his profound and accurate acquaintance with 
the Latin and Greek classics. At the time he was ens-asied 
with his pastoral charge at Neshaminy, there existed no col- 
lege or academy, of a high order, in the middle colonies, where 
young men seeking the ministery could obtain the necessary 
Uearning. About the beginning of the last century, a public 
school was established at Philadelphia, by the Society of Friends. 
Its first preceptor, George Keith, though a man of genius and 
learning, yet, being eccentric and restless, he left the school, 
.after a year, and, so far as we can discover, it did not flourish, 
-or acquire any celebrity. To obtain a qualification, young men 
■desirous of entering the Presbyterian ministry, were obliged to 
;go to Scotland or JSFew England for their education, and there 
were few candidates in the Presbyterian connection, who were 
able to bear the expense of an education, at places so tremote.* 
"William Tennent, resolved to supply this destitution, as far as 
ihe was capable, by opening a school for the education of young- 
men, in the knowledge of the classics, as well as in divinity. 
Por this, no man was better qualified, by attainments, as well 
as his ability and aptness, as an instructor. His school was es- 
.tablished, and in operation, in 1726. The building for it, was 
•erected b}' him, a few steps from his dwelling, and was made of 
.logs, from the forest near it. It, and its principal, were visited 
by the celebrated Rev. George Whitfield, who traversed this 



*Whitfield'? Journal. 



40 

country. In speaking of the building, he says, '"'the place' 
■wherein the young men study now, is called, in contempt, 'The 
College;' it is a log house about twenty feet long, and near as 
many broad, and to me, it seemed to resemble the school of the 
old j)rophets, for their habitations were mean. All that we can 
say, of most of our universities, is, they are glorious without. 
Prom this despised place, seven or eight worthy ministers of 
Jesus, have lately been sent forth, more are almost ready to be 
.^•ent, and the foundation is now laying for the instruction of 
many others."* 

The Hon, Elias Boudinot, LL. D., who knew jVIr. Tennent 
well, says : "That he was well skilled in the Latin language,, 
that he could speak and converse in it, with as much facility, aS' 
in his vernacular tongue, and also, that he was a proficient in the 
other languages." His general character appears to have been 
that of a man of integrity, simplicity, industry and piety. Such 
was the reputation of the man, who assumed to establish the 
first place and means of education in the colony, above that of 
the common school, in which only the rudiments of education 
were taught. Whilst he discharged his pastoral labors to his 
congregation faithfully, ''in season and out of season," at the- 
samte time, his learning and talents were devoted to the educa- 
tion of the young men, who sought their intellectual improve- 
ment, and religious training, under his teachings. 

At such time there was no project, so desirable for the best 
interests of the Province, as to raise the standard of education 
within i{; p-^d Mr. Tennent was the very man for the work.. 
With Hie aiii' of his eminent son, Gilbert, for a time, who was 
also a itive of Ireland ; and who received his education under 
liis 1. uer, the school was opened and conducted with success^ 
and -Threat usefulness. The health of William Tennent, Senior,. 
<leciined in 1743, and he died in 1746, aged 73. 

The character of this school, and its founder, is further at- 
tested by the attainments, and reputation of its pupils. Plain 
and unpretending, as was the edifice, "a log cabin" in the 
woods, with the minister of the neighborhood Ibr Principal and 



*Whitfi€)d'.s Journal. 



41 

Teacher, and with opponents who ridiculed the experiment, by 
giving to the school, in derision, the name of "the Log College,"' 
yet, it attracted young men of studious habits, who applied 
themselves with dilligence. It was also blessed by Providence, 
in having for its pupils, young men of superior talents, who left 
it with minds cultivated, disciplined' and stored with knowledge, 
that qualified them for the study of any of the learned profes- 
sions. The young men of this school, prosecuted their studies 
as preparatory to the ministry, on which theyentered. ''Amongst 
these pupils, educated in that school, were the four sons of the 
Principal, all of wdiom Avere members of the Presbyterian 
Church. Gilbert Tennent was ordained as a pastor in 1727. 
He is supposed to have been the first candidate licensed in the 
Presbyterian Church, who was educated within its limits."* 
Mr. Whitfield, in his journal of his visit to the American colo- 
nies, says : "I went to the meeting house to hear Mr, Grilbert 
Tennent preach; and never before heard I such a searching 
sermon. He went to the bottom indeed, and did not daub with 
untempered mortar. He convinced me more, that we can 
preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experi- 
enced the power of it in our hearts. Hypocrites must either 
soon be converted or enraged at his preaching. He is a "son of 
thunder," and does not regard the face of man. He is deeply 
sensible of the deadness and formality of the Christian Churchy 
in these parts, and has given noble testimonies against it." It 
has been remarked by an eminent divine, "that higher testimo- 
ny and from higher authority could not be given upon earth, 
and that it is doubtful, whether Mr. Whitfield h. ' ever ex- 
pressed so high an opinion of any other preacher of any enom- 
iaation." 

In 17 i4, Mr. Gilbert Tennent established a new Presbyte- 
rian Church in Philadelphia, chiefly composed ol those, who 
were denominated the converts and followers of Mr. Whitfield. 
Dr. S. Miller says, "he was a bold, ardent, practical and un- 
usually impressive preacher. He died in 1764, in the 62nd' 
year of his age."t 

♦Alexander's Log College, 43. fMillei's Life of Rogers.. 



42 

One of the most distinguished men educated at the Log Col- 
'lege, was the Kev. Samuel Blair, a native of Ireland, who was 
among the first pupils of this institution. After finishing his 
classical and theological studies, he put himself under the care 
of the New Castle Presbytery, by which he was licensed to 
preach the Gospel. Soon after he was settled in the Presbyte- 
'rian congregation at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, where he labor- 
ed for five or six years. From this, in 1739, he received an 
earnest call from a Presbyterian congregation of Scotch Irish 
settlers, in New Londonderry, otherwise called Fagg's Manor, 
in Chester county, Pennsylvania. When he received this call, 
..he left it to the Presbytery to decide, whether he should go or 
stay. He was advised to accept, and went, and was installed 
as the pastor of this congregation, in 1740. Shortly after, he 
established at this place a classical school, of the character of 
that before instituted at Neshaminy, by Mr. William Tennent, 
Sr., where he received his education. His school had particu- 
lar reference to the study of Theology, as a science. He was 
esteemed as one of the most able, learned, pious, excellent and 
venerable men of his day ; was a most profound divine, and a 
most solemn and impressive preacher. To his pupils, he was 
.himself an excellent model of pulpit eloquence. In his life, he 
gave them an admirable example of Christian meekness, of min- 
isterial diligence, of candor and Catholicism, without a derelic- 
•tion of principle. He was eminently serviceable in the part of 
the country where he lived, not only as a minister of the Gos- 
pel, but as a teacher of human knowledge. From his academy, 
the school of the prophets, as it was frequently called, there 
came forth many distinguished pupils, who did honor to their 
instructor, both as scholars and Christian ministers."* Under 
his ministry at New Londonderry, there occurred a remarka- 
ble revival of religion. "As a preacher, there was a solemnity 
in his very appearance, which struck his hearers with awe, be- 
fore he opened his mouth. He spoke as in the view of eternity, 
as in the immediate presence of God." The opinion entertained 
by the eloquent and pious Mr. Davies of Mr. Blair, as a preach - 

*Miller'3 Retr. 2, 343. Ency. Rel. Knowl. 



43 

er, was given to Mr. Davies' friends, who, on his return from 
Europe, were curious to know his opinion of the celebrated 
ministers whom he had heard in England and Scotland. After 
dealing out liberal commendations on such as he had most ad- 
mired, he concluded by saying, ''that he had heard no one, who, 
in his judgment, was superior to his former teacher, the Eev. 
Samuel Blair."* Very great assembhes, would ordinarily meet 
to hear Mr. Blair on any day of the week, and often times a 
surprising power accompanied his preaching, which was visi- 
'ble, among the multitude of hearers. Mr. Blair, in a communi- 
cation to a friend, in speaking of his congregation, says : "Ex- 
cept in some singular instances of behavior, which, alas ! pro- 
ceed from, and show, the sad remains of original corruption, 
even in the regenerate children of God, while in this imperfect 
state, their walk is habitually tender and conscientious, their 
carriage towards their neighbors just and kind; and they ap- 
pear to have an agreeble, peculiar love one for another, and for 
all in whom appears the image of God."t 

Among the students at Mr. Blair's academy, was the Bev, 
Samuel Davies, born in the county of New Castle, State of Del- 
aware, in 1721. He received the greater part of his academic 
and theological education under the teaching of the Rev. Sam- 
uel Blair, and was licensed to preach in 1745. He was emi- 
nent for eloquence, piety and learning, and acquired a reputa- 
tion so well known for genius, and taste, that it is not deemed 
necessary to dwell on them here. Having settled as Pastor of 
a Presbyterian congregation in Virginia, shortly after he was 
licensed, where he remained for some years, admired, respected 
and useful, in 1759 he was elected President of Princeton Col- 
lege, in which situation, he remained but eighteen months, be- 
ing removed by death in 1761, in the thirty-seventh year of his 
age. 

The Rev. John Rodgers, who was born in Boston, of Irish 
parents, at the age of sixteen, entered the academy, under the 
care of the Rev. Samuel Blair, where he pursued his classical 
■and theological education, and finished his theological studies, 



♦Miller's LLfe of Dr. Kodgers. fLog College, 183. 



44 

under the direction of the Kev. Gilbert Tennent, in Philadel- 
delphia. In 1747, he was licensed by the Presbytery of New- 
Castle, and gave in his public ministrations, as well as in his 
exemplary private deportment, indications of the future excel- 
lence and usefulness for which he was happily distinguished. 

As associates of Davies and Eodgers, at Blair's academy, 
were Mr. Alexander Gumming, one of the ministers of the 
Presbyterian Church in New York, and who held a high place 
among the ministers of the day; also Messrs. Robert Smith, 
James Finley, Hugh Henry, and a number of others, who be- 
came distinguished in the ministry.* The health of the Ptev. 
Samuel Blair, gave way, under the labors of his ministry, and 
school, and death removed him from both, in 1751, at the age 
of ihirty-nine. 

The Rev. John Blair, the brother of Samuel, was also an. 
alumnus of the Log College ; where he received his education, 
and as a theologian, was not inferior to any man, in the Pres- 
byterian Church, in his day. 

He was ordained in the pastoral charge of three congrega- 
tion, in the Kittochtinny viiUey, west of the Susquehanna, as 
early as 1742, before Cumberland County was erected, and 
when the district was a part of Lancaster county. His pasto- 
ral charge embraced the ''Big Spring" congregation, (now 
Newville,) and some other congregations in the new settlement. 
But as the incursions of the Indians, after Braddock's defeat^ 
dispersed the inhabitants, Mr. Blair retreated to the eastern part 
of the colony. He accepted a call from Fagg's Manor in 
1757, which had beejLformed under the ministry of his favored 
brother Samuel. Mr. -Blair discharged the duties of his min- 
istry, and conducted a flourishing Grammar school at this 
place for about nine years, where he prepared many young 
men for the ministry. He was afterwards chosen Vice Presi- 
dent of Princeton College, and Professor of Divinity, which 
places he filled with great ability, fidelity and reputation. Ho 
died in 1771, in the fifty-second year of his age. 

One of the most eminent men in the Province of Pennsylva- 



* Miller's Life of Rodgers. 



45 

nia, in its early liistoiy, was Dr. Samuel Finley, President of 
Princeton College. He was born in Ireland, where lie receiv- 
ed part of liis classical education, and arrived in the Province 
in 1734. It is believed that he finished his education at the 
Log College, as there was then no other institution, in the 
Presbyterian Church, where young men were prepared for the 
ministry ; and he was under the care of the New Brunswick 
Presbytery, most of whose members were educated in that 
school. He was licensed in 1740. After he was ordained as 
an evangelist, for some years, he visited various parts of the 
country, where the inhabitants were most destitute of religious 
instruction ; and it was said, much success attended these 
itinerant labors of this pious and talented minister. That Dr. 
Finley was an accomplished scholar and skilful teacher, was 
universally admitted. In 1744 he accepted a call from Not- 
tingham, in Chester County, adjacent to Maryland, having a 
congregation of settlers resident in both Provinces. In this 
place he instituted an academy, with the view chiefly of prepa- 
ring young men for the ministry. This school was conducted 
with admirable wisdom and success, and acquired a higher 
reputation than any other in the middle colonies, so that stu- 
dents from a great distance were attracted to it. Seme of the 
most distinguished men in our country, laid the foundation of 
their education, eminence, and usefulness in this academy; 
amongst whom were Governor Martin, of North Carolina, Dr. 
Benjamin Push, of Philadelphia, his brother. Judge Push, 
Ebenezer Hazard, Esq., Eev. James Waddel, D. D., the elo- 
quent and blind preacher of great celebrity in Virginia, Dr. 
McWhorter of New' Jersey, Col. John Bayard and Governor 
Henry of Maryland. There were no better classical scholars 
formed any where in this country, than in this school. The 
method of instruction in the Latin and Greek languages, was 
thorough and complete. The temper of Dr. Finley was re- 
markably benignant and sweet, and his manners affable and 
polite. The degree of doctor of divinity was bestowed on him 
by the University of Glasgow, which seems to have been the 
first instance of any Presbyterian minister in America, receiv- 
ing that honorary distinction. 



46 

In 1761, he was elected President of Princeton College, and 
entered on the duties of that station, in which he was distin- 
guished for wisdom and efficiency. He died in 1766, in the 
fifty-first year of his age.* "Dr. Finley was a man of sound 
and vigorous mind, of extensive learning, and of unusually 
fervent piety. Seldom has a life been more exemplary, or 

more useful, "f 

In the early history of Pennsylvania, there was no man of 
more eminence and usefulness and worthy of historical notice, 
than Francis Allison, D. D. He was born in Ireland, and after 
an early classical education, at an academy, completed his 
studies at the University of Glasgow. In 1735 he came to- 
jimerica, and was appointed pastor of a Presbyterian congre- 
gation at New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania. About 
1751 his solicitude for the interests of the Kedeemer's king- 
dom, and his desire for engaging and preparing young men for 
the ministry, and of promoting public usefulness and learning, 
induced him to open at New London a public school. There 
was, at the time, a great want of learning in the middle colo- 
nies, and he generally instructed all who came to him, without 
fee or reward. The Synod of Philadelphia assumed the pa- 
tronage and supervision of this school, and allowed Mr. Alli- 
son a salary of £20 a year, and his usher £15, and called on 
their congregations to contribute, for a time, to the support of 
the school. In 1747, Mr. Allison, by solicitation, took charge 
of the Academy in Philadelphia, and in 1755 was elected Vice- 
Provost and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the College, 
which had just been establised. He was then also minister of 
the first Presbyterian Church. Besides an unusually accurate 
and profound acquaintance with the Latin and Greek classics, 
he was well informed in moral philosophy, history and general 
literature. To his zeal for the diff'usion of knowledge, Penn- 
sylvania owes much of that taste for solid learning, and classical 
literature, for which many of her principal characters have 
been distinguished. The private virtues of Dr. Allison con- 
ciliated the esteem of all who knew him ; and his public 



* Dr. Alexander's Log College, 204. f Dr. Miller's Life of Rodger?, 57. 



47 

usefulness, has erected a lasting monument to his praise. Ire 
his public services he was plain, practical and argumentative,, 
warm, animated and pathetic. He was frank and generous in 
his natural temper ; warm and zealous in his friendships,, 
catholic in his sentiments, and the friend of civil and religious 
liberty, abhorring the intolerant spirit of persecution, bigotry 
and superstition, together with all the arts of dishonesty and 
deceit. His humanity and compassion led him to spare no 
pains or trouble, in relieving and assisting the poor, and dis- 
tressed, by his advice and influence, or by his own private lib- 
erality. His friend and successor, Eev. Dr. Ewing, saidof him,, 
that he was "one of the brightest luminaries that ever shone 
on this western world ;" and the venerable Dr. iVlexander has 
given his opinion "that Dr. Allison was one of the most accom- 
plished scholars who had adorned the Presbyterian Church in 
the United States." He continued in the discharge of his 
laborious duties until his death in 1777 ; aged 72.* 

There was an extensive settlement made by Scotch Irish 
emigrants about 1720, on the Pequea and its tributaries, in the 
county of Lancaster. The Eev. Adam Boyd was commission- 
ed to collect a congregation at that place, which he did, prob- 
ably about the time he was settled as a pastor over upper Oc- 
torora, which was in 1724. The congregation at Pequea was, 
for years, under the pastoral care of Pi-ev. A. Craighead, and 
his successor, the Kev. D. Alaxander, until 1750, when the 
Kev. Eobert Smith, D. D., was installed. He labored faithful- 
ly, not only as the pastor of this congregation, but gave a por- 
tion of his time and labor to the congregation at "the Kun;" 
after, and now known as the "Cedar Grove Presbyterian 
Church." Dr. Smith was not only a faithful pastor, but one 
of talents, learning and piety. Having received his education 
at the Log College, like many others educated there, he di- 
rected his talents, and attainments, to the instruction of others. 
He established at Pequea a classical and theological institution 
of a high character, about a half mile from the church. At 
this school, amongst many others of usefulness, were educated 



*Enc. Ret., Miller's Rel., Alexander's Log Col. 



48 

the three sons of Dr. Robert Smith. Here was laid the foun- 
dation of the eminence of his son, E,ev. Samuel S. Smith, D, D., 
President of Hampden Sidney College in Virginia, and after- 
wards President of Princeton College, where he presided for 
eighteen years, with great ability, being eminent as a scholar, 
author, and for pulpit eloquence. At Pequea was also born 
Dr. Smith's second son. Rev. John Blair Smith, who received 
there his education, and succeeded his brother, as President of 
Hampden. Sidney, and afterwards the first President of Union 
College in Schenectady. He was an eloquent, evangelical and 
successful minister. At .the same place, was born and educated 
the Rev. Wm. Smith, the third son, who was a pious and judi- 
cious minister, and though less distinguished, than either of 
his other brothers, yet, in the opinion of his good father, ''to 
comfort and edify the plain Christian, he was equal to either of 
them."* Dr. Robert Smith, after a life of labor and great 
usefulness at Pequea, for forty-two years, died at the age of 
seventy. The labors of such a pastor, and instructor, for such 
a period, must have been blessed to the conversion, and edifica- 
tion of many of the community, where he labored. 

The Rev. Patrick Allison, D. D., was born in Lancaster 
county in 1740, and received his education in the College of 
Philadelphia, and was installed pastor of the Presbyterian 
church in Baltimore in 1762, where he remained honored and 
useful until his death in 1802, in the sixty-second year of his 
age. Dr. Allison held a place in the very first rank of Ameri- 
can clerg3^ He shone with distinguished lustre in the judica- 
tories of the Church. For the perspicuity, correctness, sound 
reasoning and masculine eloquence of his speeches in ecclesias- 
tical assemblies, he was long admired and had scarcely an 
equal. "t 

To the extended list of eminent men of Irish origin or de- 
scent, already presented, distinguished for usefulness in the 
Province of Pennsylvania, in its early history, might be added 
that of the P^ev. Charles Beaty, a native of Ireland, who had 
received there a good classical education, and which he exten- 



* Log College by Alexander, 203. t Miller's Life of Rodger.s, 170. 



49 

ded and finished at the Log College, and being licensed to 
preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, was settled as 
Pastor of tlie church at Neshaminy, left vacant by the deatb 
of the venerable founder of the Log College. Eev. Mr. Bea- 
ty was engaged much in niissionary labors about 1745, visit- 
ing destitute Presbyterian settlements. Dr. Alexander says, 
he was an able, evangelical preacher, and was much esteerae(J 
for his private virtues and public labors. He was distinguish- 
ed for public spirit and popular address. He died on the 
Island of Barbadoes, where he was taken sick in collecting funds' 
for the aid of the College at Princeton in 1772. The Eev. 
John Ewing, pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Phila- 
delphia in 1759, graduated in the College of New Jersey, anc! 
was elected Provost of the University of Pennsylvania in 1779, 
and died in 1802, in tlie seventy-first year of his age. Dr. 
Miller said that "the eminent character of this gentleman, the 
vigor of his talents, tlie exient of his learning, his extraordina- 
ry accomplishments, at the head of a literary institution, and 
his excellence as a preacher, is well known." 

To appreciate the value of the labors and usefulness of the 
learned public benefactors, referred to, it is necessary to have 
-in view the times and circumstances, under which they appear- 
ed, and in which they were actors. The Province of Pennsyl- 
vania was in its infancy ; with a government, simple, experi- 
mental and inefficient for the maintenance of its laws; with an 
extensive territory, nine-tenths of wJiich, was a wilderness; 
whose population was made up of emigrants from different 
countries; with finances inadequate to the purposes of govern- 
ment, and with its Proprietary, who was the owner of the soil, 
possessing great control in the government, yet, during the 
greater part of the time, residing in England. At such time, 
this Province was blessed, in having within its borders the em- 
inent men, of whose lives a sketch has been given; classical and 
scientific education were not provided for in any institution by 
government, or by any associations contributing funds to its 
support.* It was left to individual enterprise to supply the 

* At tlie beginning of the eighteenth centurv, Colleges in the colonies did leceive 

4 



50 

tlie destitution, and at this crisis, William Tennent, Sr., was 
tlie individual, under Providence, first to apply his talents and 
acquirements, to the experiment of establishing a school under 
his care, for the classical, scientific and relig-ious education of 
young men. Though his undertaking was ridiculed, as pre- 
sumptuous and visionary, yet, as narrated, it was eminently 
successful. That success is fully attested by the brief history 
of the men educated in that school, who, for learning, eloquence, 
piety and usefulness, were not surpassed, in their day, by the 
educated men of this or any other country. The influence of 
the Log College Institution, and of the kindred ones established 
and maintained by some of its pupils, in elevating and extend- 
ing education sanctified by the teachings of the Bible, with its 
precepts of the Law and Gospel, was incalculable for the best 
interests of the Province. A warm and earnest Christianity, 
was the animating spirit of these humble seminaries, which was 
infused into most of their pupils, and made them the instru- 
ments of religious and moral instruction to others. 

During the first half of the last century, where were there 
in ofiice or station, under government, men whose services or 
usefulness to the community, were to be compared with that of 
the founders of the scliools referred to ? There were politicians _ 
and office holders, who were more conspicuous, whose power 
and patronage commanded influence and attention, yet much of 
their time was passed in the routine of prescribed, subordinate, 
official duties, or in intrisjue to maintain and advance their 
power and interests. The best and most prominent of the men 
in the Provincial government, were then, in a great measure, 
engrossed with frivolous controversies between different depart- 
ments of the government, about the legitimate exercise of their 
respective powers, and to the neglect and prejudice of the pub- 
lic interests. The men who signalized themselves at this peri- 
od, by their acts of public usefulness, were the founders and 



but little patronage from England, and were dependent on the labors, enterprise, liter- 
ary and benevolent efforts of a few individuals. In Englan I many said, 'Let tlie col- 
onists attend to the production ot the earth, and look to England for learning and 
learned men." When pressed on the subject ofreligion in the colony, one of the lords 
of trade implicated a curse upon their souls, and said, "let tluni m.ilia tob.rjjo.'' — 
Foote'a Virg, 151. 



51 

conductors of the institutions for education described. They 
were men of learning, piety, and great purity of character, who 
appreciated education, and deplored the want of suitable insti- 
tutions for it, as required by a rapidly increasing and destitute 
community. They were poor Presbyterian ministers of Scotch 
Irish nativity or descent. Having neither silver nor gold to 
give, in founding institutions for the intellectual, moral, and 
religious improvement of the people, they gave what they had, 
their time, labor, talents, and learning. They planted and 
watered, and, under God, their work prospered ; the fruits of 
which were gathered and enjoyed, not only in their own day, 
but by generations, then unborn. 

Extensive settlements, by respectable emigrants from Ire- 
land and Scotland, were made in other parts of Lancaster coun- 
ty, than those already enumerated. They had their ministers 
of the Gospel and their schools, but not of the eminence of those 
described. The settlement in the district, which we presume, 
received its name of Donegal, from the origin and choice of 
the settlers, was extensive, embracing a large district of fertile 
and choice lands. As early as 1726, this settlement had pro- 
gressed so far in improvement and organization, as to have the 
Rev. James Anderson, from Ireland, as their pastor, the 
church being called that of "New Donegal." In 1732, the 
increase in the number of Presbyterian congregations, induced 
the formation of another Presbytery in Pennsylvania, which 
was called the Donegal Presbytery. Its jurisdiction embraced 
the frontier settlements, and though its boundaries became, in 
the progress and increase of population and the Church, reduc- 
ed, it still exists under its ancient name. Prom the township 
of Donegal, many respectable settlers sought to improve their 
circumstances, by removing inlo the the Kittochtinny valley, 
west of the Susquehanna, and some made their homes in the 
southern colonies, in the same extended valley, which made 
Donegal a place of note, in the distant south. 

In the history of York county, by Messrs. Carter & Gloss- 
brenner, it is stated : "That about the years 1734-35 aud 36, 
families from Ireland and Scotland settled in the southern part 



52 

of tlie county of York, (then Lancaster county) and what is 
known as tlie "York Barrens." They consisted of the better 
order of peasantry ; were a sober, industrious, moral and intel- 
ligent people, and were, for the most part, rigid Presbyterians. 
Their manners partook of that simplicity, kindness and hospi- 
tality characteristic of the class to which they belonged in their 
native countries. The descendants of these people still retain 
the lands which their respectable progenitors selected. And 
we are happy to add, that the present inhabitants, with the 
lands, inherited the sobriety, industry, intelligence, morality 
and hospitable kindness of their predecessors." This is the 
testimony of impartial compilers of history, to the character of 
the early Irish and Scotch settlers, who, with their descendants 
have occupied for more than a century, a large portion of the 
county of York. Soon after the original settlement, they 
erected a church near Muddy creek, which, with the neighbor- 
ing settlements of Presbyterians, was supplied by an approved 
ministry of the Gospel and its ordinances. To these settle- 
ments in the "Barrens," the seminary and classical school of 
Dr. Finley, at Nottingham, was so convenient of access, that 
young men, desirous of classical and scientific education, would 
be able to attain it there without inconvenience. That atten- 
tion was given to education in these settlements, is attested by 
the eminence of some of its sons. It was from this Scotch Irish 
district of sterile soil, came the Hon. James Smith, a native 
of Ireland, who, as a youth in the family of his father, settled 
there. He received his education under the immediate care of 
the celebrated Dr. Allison, at Philadelphia. Mr. Smith was 
one of the most distinguished Lawyers of Pennsylvania, enjoy- 
ing an extensive and lucrative practice, in York and other 
counties. He was a prominent niember of the Eevolutionary 
Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, as well as an active and efiicient member of many 
important committees appointed by Congress. He commanded 
as Colonel, a Regiment in the Eevolutionary army, and was a 
practicing lawyer for about sixty years. He died in 1806, at 
the age of 93, in the borough of York. From the same district,^ 



53 

emanated Judo;e HuQ-h H". Breckenrids-e, well known for his 
classical attainments, his legal learning, and his ability, as a 
Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. Also, about the 
same time, the Hon. James Ross, of Pittsburg, distinguished 
and eminent, as a lawyer and statesman, and who, at the Bar, 
as a lawyer and advocate, or as a statesman in the United 
States, had no superior. Also, the Hon. John Rowan, who 
represented the State of Kentucky, in the United States Sen- 
ate. 

These men were of the Scotch Irish race, reared and educa- 
ted in the Province of Pennsylvania, adorning the profession of 
the Law, in which they were engaged, and an honor to their 
progenitors, as well as to the State. 

Pennsylvania furnished in it^ early history, from Scotch 
Irish families, men educated in the schools of Dr. Finley, Dr. 
Allison, and others, distinguished, not only in the ministry, 
but as lawyers, jurists and statesmen, and for their literary 
and scientific attainments. Thomas McKean was born in 
Chester County in 1734, his father being a native of Ireland. 
He acquired an accurate knowledge of the languages ; of the 
practical branches of mathematics, rhetoric, logic and moral 
philosophy, under the tuition and direction of Dr. Francis 
Allison, preparatory to the study of the Law. His subsequent 
celebrity and reputation are so well known to the American 
people, as to require no detail, A summary here is suffijieat. 
He was an eminent lawyer, and a member of the Pbsvolutiona- 
ry Congress, from its opening, in 1774, until the peace of 1783; 
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of Con- 
gress for a time, Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylvania, and 
Governor of the State for the Constitutional period. 

Hugh Williamson, of Scotch descent, was born in Chester 
•county, in 1735, and received his education at the College of 
Philadelphia, under the direction of Dr. Allison, where he 
graduated in 1757. He was a man of great scientific acquire- 
ments, eminent for talents as well as learning. He removed 
from Pennsylvania, before the Revolution, to North Carolina, 
•which State he represented in Congress for several terms with 



54 

ability, and was a Delegate to the Convention that framed the 
Federal Constitution, of which he was a decided advocate. 
His history of North Carolina, in three volumes, attests his 
erudition, ability and research. 

David Ramsay, the American Historian, was born in Lan- 
caster County, in 1749, the son of James Ramsay, a respecta- 
ble farmer, who had emigrated from Ireland, and who, by the 
cultivation of his farm, provided for the subsistence and educa- 
tion of his family. His son, David, received his early educa- 
tion, in a common school, and in one of the academies of the 
country, and finished in Princeton College, where he graduated 
in 1765. Dr. Ramsay studied medicine at Philadelphia, where 
he graduated with great distinction ; and was distinguished for 
abilities and literary attainments. Dr. Rush, who was inti- 
mate with him, said : ''His talents and knowledge are univer- 
sal. His manners polished and agreeable, and his behavior to 
all men always without offence; joined to all these, he is sound 
in his principles, strict, nay, more, severe in his morals, and 
attached, not by education only, but by principle, to the dis- 
senting interest." The predominant traits in his character, were 
philanthropy and piety, which influenced all his actions. He 
was the zealous advocate of American Independence, and at- 
tended the army in the capacity of Surgeon. Having removed 
to South Carolina, he represented that State in the Revolution- 
ary Congress, and, during the absence of John Hancock, Pres- 
ident, presided for a year, with ability, industry and impartial- 
ity. His historical works, and other productions, form part of 
the permanent literature of our country. 

Robert Fulton, the successful applier of steam to navigation, 
was born in Little Britain, Lancaster county, 1765, of respect- 
able Irish parents, who removed to Lancaster borough, where 
he received a good English education. His attainments and 
inventions, bespeak the high superiority of his talents. 

There was also a Scotch Irish settlement, at an early day, 
at Paxton, in the neighborhood of where Harrisburg is, county 
of Dauphin. This district was one of some notoriety, as near 
the frontier, where a ferry was established and maintained by 



55 

Mr. Harris, for crossing the Susquehanna — a great public ac- 
conmiodation — as well as being on the great road from Eastern 
Pennsylvania, through the Kittochtinny valley, to Virginia, 
and the more southern Provinces. Traders, as well as Indians, 
met there for traffic and conference. It acquired also an igno- 
minious notoriety, for the massacre of the Conestoga Indians, 
perpetrated by a few of its violent men. This deed was a bar- 
barous one, and indefensible. Yet, it has been greatly exag- 
gerated, without reference to the circumstances, that existed to 
extenuate it. We shall take occasion to notice it more fully, 
before we terminate this vindication. 

About 1737, ^migrants from the North of Ireland and Scot- 
land, settled in the north western part of York county, on the 
waters of Tom's and Marsh creeks, (now Adams county.) 
They were the first settlers in that district, which was separa- 
ted from the Kittochtinny valley on the west, by a range of 
mountains about ten miles in width. These settlers were a 
highly respectable community, moral, energetic, industrious, 
and intelligent; of frugal and plain habits, but kind, friendly 
and hospitable. In their religious organization, they were 
Presbyterian, and as early as 1740, missionary supplies were 
provided for them by the Presbytery of Donegal. It would 
appear, that they had settled on some of the choice lands, on 
the water courses referred to. Actual settlers had been invi- 
ted and encouraged, by agents of the Proprietary, to make per-' 
manent settlements on the lands in Pennsylvania, open to ap- 
propriation. Though this form of title was at first objected to 
by some of the Proprietary agents, unless followed by an offi-^ 
cial grant, yet it soon became prevalent, and was recognized, 
and established, as of validity with the Land Office grants, and 
only yielded to priority. Many of the settlers on Marsh creek 
had made their settlements on lands, that had been surveyed, 
or set apart for a Proprietary manor. These manors were re- 
served, from sale or grant, in the ordinary forms. As the 
lands were wild, unimproved, and were the property of the 
Proprietary, remote from the settlements on the frontier, the 
settlers might readily suppose that, like all the other lands. 



56 

not appropriated by settlers, tliey were open to settlement. 
This mistake of the settlers, was the occasion of unpleasant dif- 
ficulty and controversy, between them and some of the Pro- 
prietary officers. 

Mr. Peters, as Secretary of the Proprietory, with some as- 
sistants, in 1743, went into this settlement, to survey the man- 
or lines, which would include the settlements and improve- 
ments of a number, who, for years, had been expending their 
money, time, and labor, in clearing and improving their sup- 
posed homesteads. The settlers, in considerable numbers, for- 
bade the Proprietary agents to proceed with the survey, and 
on their persisting, broke the Surveyor's chain, and compelled 
the party to retire. The settlers were prosecuted, but sub- 
mitted, and accepted leases for a time, and purchased the lands 
before the leases expiied, to the satisfaction of the parties in- 
terested. This resistance of the Proprietary agents, wasdeem- 
e:l by them, a great indignity, and public offence, and the set- 
tlers implicated, were reproached as '"lawless," by the Proprie- 
tary officers, and the opponents of the Irish, in the Province. 

As these settlers had been in the actual and peaceable pos- 
session of the lands, they occupied for years, which were en- 
hanced much in value by their labors, they had the legal right, 
by the common law, to I'etain their possession, and' defend that 
possession until they were ejected by a superior title, under the 
Judgment of a proper Court, and by due course of law. The 
resistance of these settlers, was not of the officers of the law, or 
its authorities. The rights of the Proprietaries, in regard to 
their lands, were like those of any other individual, or vender, 
and were to be construed according to their contracts, express 
or implied. The Proprietary was not the government; their 
agents were not public magistrates, and were liable to mistakes, 
and could, and often did, commit wrongs, which were redress- 
ed by their superiors. The resistance on this occasion, was 
not a "public offence," if it only restrained the Proprietary 
agents from disturbing the peaceable possession of the settlers, 
until it should be adjudged, by a competent Court, that they 
were to be removed. It was no other wrono; than is commit- 



57 

ted every day, by men wlio are in possession of real estate, by 
wbat they suppose a sufficient title, and who refuse to surren- 
der that possession, on the demand of a claimant, until there is 
an investigation of that title, by the tribunal of the law. These 
Marsh creek settlers, as soon as they understood their legal 
relation to the Proprietary, and before any trial, acquiesced, 
and became tenents and purchasers, to the satisfaction of the 
Proprietary claimants. They were not, from principle, or hab- 
it, inured to passive obedience, irrespective of legal rights and 
authority, but as soon as the law was made manifest, they were 
obedient to its requisitions. Though the opponents of the Irish 
race, in the Province of Pennsylvania, were disposed to make 
much of this "Marsh creek resistance," to the prejudice of the 
Scotch Irish early settlers, as evidence of their turbulent 
and lawless spirit, it was because they had little to complain 
of, in a class of citizens, who took care to understand their 
rights, civil, religious, and political, and to maintain them, as 
well as respect the rights of others. 

The inhabitants of this j)art of the Province, increased in 
numbers and resources, and extended their improvements and 
the cultivation of their lands. Several large Presbyterian con- 
gregations were organized and maintained, within their bounds, 
and as was done by their kindred; in other places, the school- 
house building soon followed the erection of their own habita- 
tions, and the school-master was abroad in their midst ; and 
the minister of the Gospel, was to them, a watchman and shep- 
herd, as well as their instructor. 

Upon these settlers, and their families, was devolved the per- 
ilous dutv of defendino; the whole settlement from the Indian 
incursions and ravages, in the wars, which followed Braddock's 
defeat in 1755. The massacre and dispersion of the inhabit- 
ants of the Kittochtinny valley, during those wars, made Marsh 
creek settlement a frontier, and as the Indians crossed the Kit- 
tochtinny valley and its mountains, they massacred, as well as 
carried off captive many of its inhabitants. 

The hardy settlers of this district, were, necessarily, called 
out, to defend their families and habitations, against the incur- 



68 

sions of savage and cruel enemies, who spared neither age, or 
sex. These settlers organized themselves into military com- 
panies, and in concert with the inhabitants of the Kittochtinny 
valley, pursued the Indians, in their retreats, to their hiding 
places, in the western mountains ; whilst some of them formed 
a part of that gallant, brave, intrepid, and successful expedi- 
tion, under the command of Col. Armstrong, which attacked 
and captured the Indian fort and town of Kittaning, on the Al- 
leghany river, in 1756. 

The men Avho had resisted the Proprietary agents, that came 
to survey their lands, on a claim for the Proprietary, perilled 
their lives in a distant campaign, across the mountains, to at- 
tack the Indians, and their French allies, and defend the lands 
and province of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, against the 
invasions and devastation of the enemy, whilst the agents and 
favorites of the same Proprietary, with few exceptions, took 
care, to keep themselves at a safe distance Irom the enemy, and 
dangers. These resolute settlers held on to their lands, as a 
permanent abode for their families, and when the war of the 
Revolution broke out, all of them having the ability to bear 
arms, responded, with alacrity, to the calls of their country, in 
defence of American liberty and independence. More willing 
or brave hearts, and higher patriotic feeling, were not to be 
found in the colonies. 

After the close of the Revolutionary War, some of the de- 
scendants of these Irish settlers, sought homes in western Penn- 
sylvania, and after the lapse of some more years, others emi- 
grated further west, where they became prominent, respecta- 
ble, and influential citizens of western States, 

Many of the descendants of this race, remained on the farms, 
or in the neighborhood, where their ancestors had resided. 
Some cultivate the same farms, and worship on the same hill, 
or near the same spring, where those ancestors, more than a 
century since, were accustomed to assemble, with their families, 
for worship, with their Presbyterian brethren, according to 
their approved forms, and in the maintenance of venerated 
creeds. 



59 

These descendants, who dwell in the neighborhood of those 
early settlements, form an intelligent, religious, and moral com- 
munity, of law abiding and conservative habits ; many of whom 
have enjoyed, and still possess, political and social distinction, 
and are respected for enterprise, intelligence, and public useful- 
ness. 



CHAPTER III. 

The attraetions of the Kittochtinny Valley to Settlers — Who 
they ivere — Im.provement and Progress — Religious and 
moral character of population — Church organizations — 
Frontier — Peaceable intercourse with Indians, until after 
Braddock's defeat — Exposure to Indian massacre and de- 
vastation — Neglected by government — Harassed by Indian 
Wars — Dispersion of inhabitants — Murder of Conestoga 
Indians in Lancaster county — Indian Traders attacked — 
Murder of Indians by Frederick Stump in Shermans val- 
ley — His rescue and escape — Return of inhabitants to the 
Kittochtinny valley in 1765 — Their progress, increase and 
occupation. 

There was no district of country, in the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, that had more to recommend it, to the early settlers, for 
agricultural purposes, than the valley of the Susquehanna, op- 
posite Harris' ferry. It was known by its Indian name of the 
Kittochtinny valley, from the extensive mountain range, its 
western boundary, called the "Kittochtinny," signifying " End- 
less mountains," extending through several of the Atlantic 
provinces. The Indian name of Kittochtinny, was, by the 
white population, softened, by dropping some of its consonants^ 
and in general acceptation by them, after some time, called 
Kittatinny, which it retained, until supplanted by Cumberland, 
the name of the county. It is to be regretted, that it had not 
been allowed to retain its ajopropriate Indian name of Kittoch- 
tinny. That part of the valley, west of the Susquehanna, em- 
braced, what now constitutes the county of Cumberland, and 
almost all of the county of Franklin. For fertility of soil, 



60 

abundance of copious springs, clear running streams, variety of 
forest timber, luxuriance of vegetation, and salubrity of climate; 
presenting as a boundary, on two sides, mountain ranges, with a 
wide valley, made up of hills, planes, and dales, it was not sur- 
passed, by any of the American colonies. Attractive as it was, 
its settlement was retarded, from being a frontier remote from 
the eastern settlements, the Indian claim to which was not pur-, 
chased by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, until October, 1736. 
A great part of it was in controversy with the Proprietary of 
Maryland, who claimed the same as belonging to that Province. 

To assert and maintain the claim and jurisdiction of Penn- 
sylvania, to this valley, west of the Susquehanna, some resolute 
and enterprising citizens were induced, by the Proprietary 
agents, of Pennsylvania, to make settlements in this district, 
under Pennsylvania authority, which was done in a few instan- 
ces, as early as 1730 — 31, and were continued until January, 
1734, when a commission was issued to Samuel Blunston, from 
the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, authorizing him to grant li- 
censes, in writing, to settle lands west of the Susquehanna. 
They were an inception of title to much of the most desirable 
lands in the valley, extending from the Susquehanna, to near 
the Potomac. With those settlements under Pennsylvania au- 
thority, the Indians were satisfied, as they had been with those 
before made west of Wright's ferry, near York, Their tend- 
ency was to restrain encroachments, under Maryland authority. 
The Proprietary of Pennsylvania, acknowledged the Indian 
claim, and for some time, had been negotiating with them, for 
a cession of it, delay of which, was occasioned by the retirement 
of some of the five nations, to the western rivers or lakes. 

That cession being obtained in 1736, and the Maryland con- 
troversy, being at the same time, suspended, by agreement of 
the Proprietaries of the two Provinces, the Land Office of Penn- 
sylvania was opened in January, 1737, for the sale and appro- 
priation of lands west of the Susquehanna, on the usual terms. 
The application for warr;vnts, and the influx of settlei^s, were 
now great into this valley. 

The settlers, who occupied this part of the Kittochtinny 



61 

valley, under the license system, were from Ireland and Scot- 
land. They were men of energy, enterprise, industry, and in- 
telligence; substantial farmers, with capital and resources, 
for improving and extending their farms. Their origin, char- 
acter, and the attractions of the country, induced the emigrants 
of the same nationalities, to flock to this district of country. 
Some of these, had been resident for a time, in the eastern part 
of the Province, and sought now to obtain a permanent home in 
the Kittochtinny valley. 

Though the frontier of the Province, it increased rapidly, and 
in 1750 had about 1000 taxables, its population being five or 
six thousand. Nine-tenths of the population were natives of 
Ireland or Scotland. There were a few respectable families of 
German Mennonites, settled east of where the town of Green- 
castle is now located, on the waters flowing into the Conoco- 
cheague; and also on the head waters of the Antietam. There 
were also some Germans, of substance and good character, who 
had settled near the Grindstone Hill, south of where Chambers- 
burg is situated, belonging to the German Iloformed Church, 
and a settlement of emigrants from Wales, on the Maryland 
boundary, on a streamof water flowing into west Conococheague, 
which gave to this stream, and the adjacent country, the name 
of Welsh Run, by which it is still known. There were some 
German families settled, at an early day, in the eastern part of 
the valley, near the Susquehanna. 

The taste, of the early settlers of tliis valley, was rural, and 
the occupation looked to for their families, was agricultural. 
They selected lands, with a view to permanent residence, and 
as the means of maintaining their families. The first dwelling 
house erected in the Conococheague valley, was at the mouth of 
the Falling Spring, of hewed logs, and covered with a lapped 
shingle roof, secured by nails, in the usual manner. Many of 
the dwelling houses, of the first settlers, were built of choice 
logs, hewed and well put together, two stories high, and with 
several apartments above and below; and as early as 1744, 
stone dwelling houses of two stories, were erected, in diff'erent 
parts of the valley; some of which, are still standing, and 



62 

are comfortable residences. The stranger, who came to 
view the hind, was not regarded as an intruder; but if of fair 
character, was received with warm hearts, and taken into hos- 
pitable families, and information and aid given to him, that 
would enable him to select lands that were eligible, and open 
to appropriation. Good, and convenient neighbors, were more 
desirable than extended territory. 

The settlers, in their settlement, were engaged in extending 
their improvements, b};- buildings, clearing and enclosing lands 
for cultivation. They were characterized by enterprize, and 
persevering industry, and were generally of steady habits, re- 
ligious and moral character. The great mass of them in this 
valley, being of Irish or Scotch nativity, had as their standard 
of Church organization, government, and creed, the Westmin- 
ster Confession of Faith, with the Catechisms received from the 
Westminster Assembly. That standard was one on which their 
ancestors, and themselves, had stood and maintained in a foreign 
land, of religious intolerance, and which, in a land of religious 
liberty, they were not disposed to depart from. 

As the settlements progressed, they were desirous of being 
supplied with a Gospel ministry, and as early as 1734, the 
Presbytery of Donegal sent supplies or missionaries into this 
valley, which, in their minutes is called the country, "Over the 
EJver." As the settlement progressed, under the "Blunston 
Licenses," congregations were organized in the years 1734-5-6 
and 7. Before 1740, there were not less than eight Presbyte- 
rian congregations, organized in the valley, which had church 
buildings erected for public worship, and most of them supplied 
by pastors of their choice. The Presbyterian ministers of that 
day, were nearly all of Irish nativity, and education. They 
were good chissical scholars, as well as sound and learned theo- 
logians. Among the early ministry of this valley, was the Rev. 
John Blair, educated at the Log College, ot whose life a very 
brief memoir is given. He was settled at the Great Spring, as 
early as 1741, having the charge of that and some neighboring 
congregations. 

Simultaneous with the organization of congregations by these 



63 

settlers, was the establishment of school houses, in every neigh- 
borhood. In these schools, were taught litde more than the 
rudiments of education, of which a part was generally obtained 
at home, under parental instruction. Eeading, "Writing, Arith- 
metic, Trigonometry, and Practical Geometry, were the branches 
to which attention was given. The Bible was the standard 
daily reader, for all classes able to read ; and the Shorter- Cate- 
chism of the Westminster Assembly, was recited, and heard 
by all in the school, as a standard exercise, on every Saturday 
morniog. 

The government of this extended community, was, in a great 
measure, patriarchial. The father was the instructor, and ru- 
ler of his household. Subordination to parents, was the uni- 
versal education and training, and obedience was the settled 
habit of the youth of the fiimily. The great instrumentalities, 
in the instruction of youth, were home, the school, and the 
Church. Keligion was the great principle, on which was found- 
ed the early government of this people ; the regulator of their 
families, their social and domestic habits. That religion, was 
that of the Bible, the fear and love of God, as the beginning of 
wisdom, and the keeping of his cotnmandments, as taught in 
the Scriptures, as the great duty of man. In a community, 
without public magistrates, and officers of the law in the neigh- 
borhood ; influence and rule, would be with the eldest, and wisest 
of the people, and which, by common consent, would be extend- 
ed over the morals and actions of individuals. Public safety, 
peace and happiness, required this exercise of control by public 
sentiment, and respect for it would be accorded. 

In 1735, by the order and appointment of the Court, the val- 
ley was divided into two townships, by a line crossing the val- 
ley at the "Great Spring," now JSTewville ; the eastern one cal- 
led "Pennsborough," and the western one, ''Hopewell," and a 
Justice of the Peace and a Constable, appointed for each. In 
1741, the township of Antrim was established, embracing the 
Conococheague settlement, and what now constitutes the coun- 
ty of Franklin, with a Justice of the Peace and Constable tor it. 

These conservators of the peace, would be so few, over this 



64 

extended country^ as to afford but little aid to the maintenance 
of peace, order, and the authority of the laws. The great con- 
S3rvator and arbiter of right, would be the well regulated re- 
ligions and moral sentiment of the community. The settlers 
were farmers, pursuing the even tenor of their way, in improv- 
ing and cultivating their farms, rearing and educating their 
children, and providing for their schools and ch arches. The 
people were obliged to be a law unto themselves. Having em- 
igrated from a country, where the common law was the stand- 
ard of right and wrong, in the relations of persons, it and its 
principles, would be applied in aid of the moral law, to the ac- 
tions of individuals. The provincial government had its place 
of business, with its offices and officers, at Philadelphia; the 
only officers of this government, seen by the settlers of this val- 
ley, for many years after its first settlement, were the Deputy 
Surveyors, to survey and return their lands. Whilst the local 
county government, until 1750, was at Lancaster, a distance, 
to many of the inhabitants, of one hundred miles or more, the 
officers of this local government, with which the people of the 
valley had intercourse, before that period, were the assessors 
and collectors of tie public taxes. The Courts, for the trial of 
criminals, were so distant from a great part of the valley, as to 
afford but little protection to the inhabitants. 

Yet the settlement of this division of theKittochtinny valley, 
was expanding; its improvements progressing, and the comfort 
and resources of the inhabitants, rapidly increasing. This 
Scotch Irish settlement, was the most extensive of any in the'. 
Province, having in it, in 1748, about 800 taxables, dwelling in 
peace, and in the offices of good neighborhood with one another. 
During this period of patriarch ial government, we do not learn, 
from history, or any public document, that any outrage was 
perpetrated within its bounds, by any riotous, or unlawful as- 
sembly, or any high crimes committed against the laws. 

Predominant, as was the Scotch Irish element, in this settle- 
ment, with its numerous Presbyterian congregations, in every 
part of it; yet it was not intolerant, or a persecutor of the small 
Mennonite and German Reformed societies, that were in its 



65 

midst, or of any other denomination, that was inclined to make 
its abode in the valley. They lived in harmony with all, as 
Christian brethren, interchanging the offices of good and oblig- 
ing neighbors. The population of this valley, had for their 
southern boundary, the Province of Maryland, with which the 
vexed q.uestion of the actual location of that boundary, before 
1739, was unsettled. In 1735—6, the conflict between the 
inhabitants of the two Provinces, in the eastern part of the 
county of Lancaster, was harassing; attended with riot, breach- 
es of the peace, blood-shed, and alleged murder ; where the 
settlers belonged to different classes of emigrants ; yet, in the 
Kittochtinny valley, with settlers living near, and adjacent to 
the place where the temporary and permanent boundary lines 
were surveyed, there was no strife amongst them, about their 
respective posessions, which all were allowed peaceably to hold, 
until the proper Provincial jurisdiction was established, which 
was done first, in 1739, by the temporary line, which in the 
valley, was only half a mile north of the permanent line, estab- 
lished by Mason and Dixon's survey, in 1767. The western 
boundary, of the same valley, was the Kittochtinny mountains, 
of seventy miles in extent, being the frontier of the Province, 
and the Indian claim extending from that boundary to the far 
west. The inhabitants of the valley, had for their neighbors, 
on the frontier, the Indian tribes of the west. Though most 
of the Indian nations had retired, on the advance of the white 
settlements, to the western waters, yet they occasionally, or 
]^arts of them, visited the white settlements, for trafic, confer- 
ence, or to meet other tribes. There was intercourse between 
them, and the inhabitants of the valley. Prom the first settle- 
ment, in this valley, until the Indians became, with their 
French allies, the public enemy of the English, and of the 
inhabitants of their colonies, the life of an Indian was not taken, 
or the blood of any shed, nor were they deprived of their 
property, by the inhabitants of this part of the Kittochtinny 
valley. History, or the public documents, furnish no record 
of any such wrong to the Indians ; and had there been any 
such, it would have been made known by the Indians, or by 
5 



66 

the agents of the Provincial government, who visited them. 
The Indians, and the inhabitants of this valley, many of whom 
resided at the base of the Kittochtinny mountain, did maintain 
an intercourse in peace, and without strife, until 1753, when a 
hostile spirit was first manifested, under the influence and insti- 
gation of the French. Several of the inhabitants of this valley, 
were carried into captivity, by the Indians, in 1752 and '53. 
They were subjected to* great hardships, by a confinement, for 
a time, at Quebec, and afterwards in France, where their re- 
lease was procured by the English Ambassador. On their 
return to Pennsylvania, the Assembly made provision for their 
restoration to their homes in the valley. Acts of Assembly,, 
vol. 4. 

In September, 1754, a conferance was had with the Indians, 
at the residence of George Croghan, the Indian Agent, at 
Aughwick. Notwithstanding Mr. Weiser, as the agent of the 
government, was there, to secure their friendly relations, aid- 
ed by liberal donations of money; yet, within a few days after, 
an Indian killed Joseph Campble, a white man, on the Conoco- 
cheague, near Parnel's Knob, without any known provocation, 
and made his escape. We have not seen any evidence, docu- 
mentary, or other, that the inhabitants of this valley were in- 
censed b}'- these repeated outrages of the Indians, at a time of 
professed peace, to commit against them any acts of revenge, 
in retaliation for the atrocious wrono-s recited, and treacher- 
ously perpetrated by the Indians, on the white inhabitants of 
this valley. In this forbearance, the Scotch Irish race, exhib- 
ited a spirit far from being "pugnacious," or that they "hated 
the Indians," but, that there "were sentiments of honor, or 
magnanimity in their bosoms, that could restrain resentment." 

The success and prosperity of this community, in prosecu- 
ting the improvements of their farms, dwelling together in 
peace, maintaining their social and religious associations, with 
but the shadow of a public government, is evidence how little 
government is required for an agricultural people of religious, 
moral, and industrious habits, content with their occupation. 
This community, left to their own government, will, we think, 



67 

for their good habits, bear a comparison with any other popu- 
lation, or any other settlement, of the American colonies, or 
with any settlement of the lands of the United States, to 'the 
same extent. 

For. fifteen years and more, they lived, with the place of their 
county offices and sessions of their Courts, at a distance from 
them, of fifty to one hundred miles ; and when they petitioned 
the Legislature for the organization of the county of Cumber- 
land, in 1749, they "represented the great hardships they laid 
under, b> being so remote from Lancaster, where the Courts 
were held, and the public offices kept, and how hard and diffi- 
cult it was for the 'sober and quiet part' of the people to secure 
themselves against thefts and other abuses, frequently commit- 
ted by idle and dissolute persons, who, to escape punishment, 
resort to the more remote parts of the Province ; and owing to' 
the great distance from the Court, or prison, frequently escap- 
ed." The obvious necessity, for the relief desired, induced an 
immediate organization of the county of Cumberland in 1750. 
For some time before this, this part of the Kittochtinny 
valley was called by the whites ''the North valley," to dis- 
tinguish it, we believe, from the extension of the same valley 
in Virginia, south of the Potomac river. After the organiza- 
tion of Cumberland county, it very generally received the 
name of the ''Cumberland valley," taking its name from the 
county, of which it was a small part. The Indians, however, 
long after, in their allusions to it, and the mountain ran^e 
west, retained their ancient name of "Kittochtinny." ° 

The inhabitants of this valley were destined to experience 
the sad deficiency of their Provincial government, in the rela- 
tions of war. The storm, indicated by the defeat of Braddock, 
and the dastardly flight of his successor in command, Dunbar,' 
was viewed with terrible apprehension and danger, by the in- 
habitants along the frontier. These apprehensions were made 
known, in many memorials to the Assembly and Governor 
signed by the mass of the people, imploring immediate meas- 
ures of defense by the government, for the ' protection of the 
settlements exposed. These supplications, acknowledged to 



68 

be reasonable, and demanding the attention of the government, 
were not met by legislation, that had any efficiency for the relief 
of the alarmed inhabitants. The war was allowed to fall on 
the defenceless inhabitants of this valley, and other settlements 
in all the horrors of savage cruelty. Families were surprised 
in their dwellings, and every member murdered and scalped ; 
their houses and buildings burned, and their cattle destroyed. 
The men organized themselves into companies, with their own 
small supply of arms and ammunition, to pursue the enemy, 
who were generally successful in their rapid retreat to the 
mountains and the wilderness. This barbarous warfare, was 
continued for about seven or more years, against the inhabi- 
tants of this valley, who were left in a great measure, to their 
own resources and bravery, for the defence of the country 
against these cruel and powerful enemies. The forts, provided 
by the government, in the Cumberland valley, at Carlisle, 
Shippensburg, and Loudon, garrisoned each with about seventy 
men, afforded little or no protection. Separated by great dis- 
tances, the Indians, in their incursions, could readily avoid 
them, as they did, and find still a wide field for an inhuman 
war, that was regardless of age, sex or infancy. Even the 
Royal government, after the defeat of Braddock, in July, 1755, 
permitted three years and more, to elapse, when in the autumn 
of 1758, another army, under Gen. Forbes, was marched into 
the enemy's country,' and took possession of Fort Du Quesne, 
abandoned by the French. So repeated were the massacres of 
the inhabitants of the Cumberland valley, for years, that three 
fourths of them with their families, sought shelter and safety in 
the eastern parts of Lancaster and York counties. The men 
often returned to occupy some dwellings, that escaped the torch 
of the savage, and co-operate with others, to watch and resist 
the Indians, whose mode of warfare was secrecy and surprise, 
murder of the defenceless, and a hasty retreat. The number 
of white inhabitants, in this valley, slain, scalped, or carried 
into captivity, was great. The whole extended valley was 
made one of dessolation and blood ; every neighborhood had 
its victims. The Indian warriors estimated, that in the first 



69 

years of this war, tliey killed fifty whites for one Indian that 
was killed, and in after years, when the white inhabitants bet- 
ter understood their warfare, they still killed ten whites for 
one of their nation killed by the white inhabitants. This great 
disproportion arose from the slaughter by the Indians, of wo- 
men and children, for whose scalps their French allies reward- 
ed them liberally. 

The distress of the inhabitants of the Cumberland valley, 
during these wars, may be conceived better than described. 
Gordon, in his History of Pennsylvania, 383, says : "that in- 
cessant anxiety pervaded every family; their slumbers were 
broken by the yell of demons, or by the dread of an attack, 
scarce less horrid than an actual attack. The ground was 
ploughed, the seed sown and the harvest gathered, under the 
fear of the tomahawk and rifle. Scarcely any outdoor labor 
was safely executed, unless protected by arms in the hands of 
the laborers, or by regular troops. Women visiting their sick 
neighbors, were shot or captured; children driving home cattle 
from the field, were killed and scalped; whilst the enemy das- 
tardly, as well as cruel, shrunk from every equality of force. 
Many of the richest neighborhoods were deserted, and proper- 
ty of every kind given up to the foe. Many instances of hero- 
ism were displayed by men, women and children, in defence of 
themselves and their homes, and in pursuing and combatting 
the enemy. There was certainly a great want of ability and 
energy in the constituted authorities and the government of the 
Province. United councils, and well directed eff"orts, might 
have driven the barbarians to their savage haunts, and repeat- 
ed the chastisement they received at Kittanning, until they sued 
for peace. But imbecility distinguished the British ministers 
and ofiicers, and paralized the efi'orts of the Provinces, especi- 
ally that of Pennsylvania." ■ ■ 

The complaints against the constituted authorities of the 
Provincial government, and supplications for defensive meas- 
ures, were not confined to the Scotch Irish inhabitants of the 
frontier. The frivolous and endless disputes between the Gov- 
ernor and the Assembly, in a time of war and distress, incens- 



70 

ed the patient Germans and overcame their constitutional "in- 
action. The inhabitants of the remote parts of Philadelphia 
county, chiefly Germans, to the amount of four hundred, 
marched to the city unarmed, in a peaceable and orderly man- 
ner, to implore the protection of their rulers, and the postpone- 
ment of their unreasonable debates. They first waited upon 
the Governor, who accused the Assembly of procrastination ; 
and that body did not fail to rebut the charge, whilst they 
promised their sturdy petitioners, who crowded their hall, 
that means for their protection and safety should be speedily 
adopted."* 

The Indians were willins; to avail themselves of the concilia- 
tory policy of the public authorities, and meet the agents of 
the Government in conference, when invited ; and in which 
assurances of peace, friendship and fidelity were given by the 
Chiefs, who returned to their homes liberally rewarded by pres- 
ents, at the expense of the government. These pledges and 
assurances were regarded no longer than the time might be 
favorable to renew their hostilities on the white inhabitants, 
who might be surprised in their peaceful occupations, and there 
barbarously murdered by their false and treacherous foes. 

When the treaty of Peace was made in JSTovember, 1762, 
between the French and English ; and France surrendered its 
possession in the northern colonies to the English, with the 
assurances of friendship and peace, received from the Indians, 
who were so fully represented at a conference with the public 
agents at Lancaster, in September, in 1762, it was supposed 
by all interested, that the peace of the Province was establish- 
ed on a basis not to be disturbed. 

The inhabitants who had fled with their families, to the 
eastern part of the Province, returned in the autumn of 1762, 
to the Kittochtinny and adjacent valleys, to resume there the 
possession of their farms, laid waste by the savage enemy. In 
the Cumberland valley, the inhabitants, with their character- 
istic energy, apj^lied themselves to rebuild their dwellings, to 

Gordon, 315. 



71 

procure cattle, and cultivate their lands for a harvest expected 
to be gathered in safety. All was quiet on the frontiers, not 
a murmer or threat, from the Indians, that indicated hostility, 
was heard by the public agents, or by the inhabitants of this 
valley, who were comforting themselves on the enjoyment of a 
lasting peace. Sad disappointment was not far from them. 
''The unprotected state of the frontiers, consequent on the 
discharge of the forces of the middle and southern colonies, 
held forth irresistible temptation to the whetted appetite of the 
border savages for plunder. Their hostility had been reward- 
ed, rather than chastised, by Pennsylvania; every treaty of 
peace was accompanied with rich presents ; and their detention 
•of the prisoners was overlooked, upon slight apologies, though 
obviously done to afford opportunities for new treaties and ad- 
ditional gift. The mistaken and perverted humanity of 'the 
Friendly Association,' had softened down their offences."* 

A secret and wide spread confederacy among the Indians, 
was suddenly executed by them, simultaneously, on all the 
English forts, and the settlements of the frontiers, in the spring 
and summer of 1763. Their attack on the inhabitants of the 
Kittochtinny valley, east and west of the Susquehanna, was 
appalling. "The whole country west of Shippensburg, in this 
valley, became the prey of the fierce barbarians. They set 
fire to houses, barns, corn, and hay, and everything that was 
combustible. The wretched inhabitants, whom they surprised 
at night, at their meals, or in the labor of the fields, were mas- 
sacred with the utmost cruelty and barbarity ; and those who 
fled, were scarcely more happy, overwhelmed by sorrow, without 
shelter, or means of transportation. Their tardy flight was 
impeded by fainting women and weeping children. The in- 
habitants of Shippensburg and Carlisle, now became the barri- 
er towns, opened their hearts and houses to their afflicted 
brethren. In the towns, every stable and hovel was crowded 
with miserable refug-ees, who havins; lost their houses, their 
cattle and their harvest, were reduced from independence and 

* Gordon, 305. 



72 

happiness to beggary and despair. The streets were filled witli 
people, the men distracted, by grief for their losses, and the 
desire for revenge, more poignantly excited by the disconsolate 
females and bereaved children who wailed around them."* 

The like murders and bloody cruelties were inflicted at the 
same time, by the barbarous enemy, on the inhabitants of the 
Kittochtinny valley, east of the Susquehanna. Amongst them 
the inhabitants of the township of Paxton, east of where Har- 
risburg is, in the county of Dauphin, had been sorely afflicted. 

The inhabitants, in this district, who had suffered from this 
inhuman war, were exasperated to excess against the Indians, 
as a treacherous enemy, on whose stipulations no confidence 
could be placed, and who were to be intimidated only by a chas- 
tisement, that would be an example and terror. Under the 
influence of these feelings, at a time of great alarm and excite- 
ment, attention was directed to the parts of the Delaware and 
Six Nation tribes, resident on Conestoga, 'Vho refused to join 
their brethren in arms, professed afiection for the colonists, and 
avowed their determination to remain neutral. That neutrali- 
ty was denied, and of part of thena was very doubtful. Many 
outrages were committed in consequence, as was generally 
believed, of the information and advice they gave to the inva- 
ders ; and some murders were perpetrated, which the public 
voice ascribed to a party under the protection of the Moravian 
brethren. "t 

"That some of the Conestoga Indians were treacherous, ap- 
pears (says Mr. Rupp) abundantly, from the facts set forth in 
the afiidavits of respectable persons. It was fully believed by 
the Paxtonians, that what were called the friendly Indians, 
connived at, if not directly stimulated the hostile ones, in their 
relentless attacks upon the frontier settlers, at that time. "J 
"That these friendly Indians were guilty of treachery and 
perfidy, in the manor of Conestoga, would seem evident from 
a number of authentic statements and evidence, from other 
credible sources. "|| 

* Gordon 308. f Gordon, 404. J Eupp's His. Lane, 852— 4. || Eupp's His. 
Dauph., 1C3. F. vol. 4, Penn. Arch., 139. 



73 

When the Rev. John Elder, of Paxton, heard that a number 
of persons had assembled, to proceed to Conestoga, to cut off 
the Indians, he did all in his power to prevent it. He remon- 
strated with them on its unlawfulness and barbarity, and as- 
sured them that they would be liable to capital punishment. 
(Letter to Gov. Penn.) His advice and remonstrance were 
not regarded, and on the 14th Dec, 1763, a number of men 
from Paxton and Donegal, attacked the Indian village at Con- 
estoga, and there murdered all of the tribe at their town, being, 
six : three men, two women and a boy, and burned their dwel- 
lings. Amongst the slain was one chief, who was distinguish- 
ed for his friendship to the whites. The majority of the Indians 
of the town were absent, at the time of the attack. These, by 
the agents of the Governor and magistrates, were afterwards 
removed to the jail in Lancaster, as a place of security. Not- 
withstfinding the proclamation of the Governor, offering a re- 
ward for the apprehension of the murderers at Conestoga, and 
enjoining vigilance on the part of the public magistrates, a 
number of Paxtonians and others, amounting to about thirty 
persons, suddenly made their appearance in Lancaster, on the 
27th day of December, marched to the prison, forced the doors 
and inhumanly murdered all the Indians found within its walls, 
regardless of their supplications and protestations of innocence. 
The number thus murdered were fourteen, three men, three 
women and eight children."* 

Humanity revolts at deeds so cruel and barbarous, as those 
just recited, only becoming a savage enemy. Cruel as war is, 
in its mildest forms, it becomes doubly cruel when waged with 
savages. Their barbarous murder of women, infancy and age 
induces in their more intellectual ar.d civilized enemies, re- 
venge and retaliation. It is considered by authorities on na- 
tional law, that such severities and retaliation, with a ferocious 
and savage enemy, are legitimate warfare, that by such retali- 
ation they may be brought to a sense of the laws of humanity. 
It is considered, that by such retaliation only, can Indian bar- 



* Vol. 9, Col. Rec, 103. 



74 

Parities be encountered, and they intimidated. In the wars 
which the Indians had been waging on the inhabitants of the 
settlements for seven years, in which most of the victims were 
women and children, their own families, being remote from the 
seat of war, escaped, with the exception of the lew who fell in 
the attack on their town of Kittanning, 1756, under the com- 
mand of Col. Armstrong. 

One of the great evils of war, is its corruption of human na- 
ture, and hardening the heart to all the sensibilities of human- 
ity. Whilst we condemn the murder of the Conestoga Indians, 
■as atrocious and barbarous, there is some extenuation to be al- 
lowed to fathers and husbands, who, but a few months before, 
were agonized in mourning over murdered wives and children, 
whose blood, as they firmly believed, was on the hands and 
skirts of the barbarous and treacherous enemy, who were living 
near them, under the protection and support of the government. 
■''That inhabitants, whose dwellings had been pillaged and burn- 
ed, their families murdered and scalped, by an enemy, who but 
a few months before, had, in public conference, given the most 
solemn assurances of peace and friendship, and who renewed 
their hostilities, without complaint or warning, should be driv- 
en to desperation, is not to be wondered at. They were men 
with the infirmities and passions of men. The desperate com- 
bination to avenge on the Conestoga Indians, the barbarous cru- 
elties, inflicted on the border families of the whites, was limited, 
and confined to a few. The most reliable account on record of 
them is to be found in the communication of the Rev. John El- 
der to Governor Penn, Dec, 16, 1763, who was the pastor of 
a Presbyterian congregation in the township of Paxton, and 
who was respected and beloved for his estimable character. 
Mr. Elder, in his letter says : ''I thought it my duty to give 
jou this early notice, that an action of this nature may not be 
imputed to these frontier settlements. For I Know not one 
person of judgement or prudence, that has been in any wise 
concerned in it ; but it has been done by some hot-headed, ill- 
advised persons, and especially by such, I imagine, as suffered 
much in their relations, hy the ravages committed hy the late 
Indian loarT 



75 

And in a subsequent letter, from the same to the Governor, 
•of 27th of January, 1764, it is stated, that "The storm, which 
had been so long gathering, has at length exploded. Had 
government removed the Indians from Conestoga, which had 
frequently been urged without success, this fearful catastrophe 
might have been avoided. "What could I do with men heated 
to madness ? All that I could do was done ; I expostulated^ 
but life and reason were set at defiance, and yet the men in 
private life, are virtuous and respectable ; not cruel, but mild 
and merciful. The time will come, when each palliating cir- 
cumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into 
the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of those youth- 
ful ebullitions of wrath, caused by momentary excitement, to 
which human infirmity is subjected." 

The outrage perpetrated by ^. the murders in the Lancaster 
jailor work house, were more flagitious, than that at the Indian 
town. There had been time for passion to subside, and for 
reason and humanity to resume their control. The doors of a 
public prison were forced, and the barriers of the law, public 
faith and security, set at defiance. The authorities of the gov- 
ernment, that had the Indians removed to this place, under as- 
surance of protection and safety, were culpable, that they did 
not, at the peril of their lives, prevent the murderous assasina- 
tion ; or have arrested the perpetrators, in a town having a 
population of over two thousand, and in it, at the time, a com- 
pany of the King's troops, under the command of Capt. Rob- 
ison. Had the magistrates, who assumed the resposibility of 
protection, repaired to the jail with a few resolute men, under 
the panoply of the law, they would have been a host in them- 
selves, to have repelled the criminal assailants, not numbering 
more than thirty. Whether successful or not, they were bound 
by every obligation of duty to have made the attempt, at the 
hazzard of their lives. It is a reflection on the magistrates and 
authorities, who were instrumental in placing the Indians in 
the public jail, as well as the citizens of Lancaster, that they 
permitted this outrage, and the escape of the perpetrators. 
The insurgents increased in number, by accessions in Lancaster 



76 

county, and some time after repaired to the neighborhood of 
Philadelphia, and made threats against the safety of the In- 
dians there, under the protection of the Provincial government. 
Better councils prevailed with them, and they returned to their 
homes without any other acts of violence. 

The inhabitants of the frontier, who had suffered for so many 
years, from the ravages of Indian warfare, remained incensed 
against the Provincial government, which had failed in a first 
and most imperative duty to its citizens, of protection against a 
public and savage enemy ; and which was feeding and main- 
taining then, at the public expense, more than one hundred In- 
dians, many of whom were believed by the settlers to have been 
perpetrators of the most horrid barbarities, but a few months 
before on the white settlements; and yet the government made 
no provision for more than a thousand families of the inhabit- 
ants of the frontier, reduced to extreme distress, by the de- 
struction of their dwellings, furniture, cattle and crops, and who 
were dependent on private charity.* They despaired of ade- 
quate protection from the government, or a change of the policy 
of rewarding the Indians by presents, for their promises of good 
behavior, instead of intimidating them by chastisement, — as 
long as the government was .organized as it was, with its legis- 
lature controlled by about one tenth of the population of the 
Province, who were opposed to military armament, or appropri- 
ations for the public defence. 

The killing of the Indians at Conestoga and Lancaster, was 
aggravated or extenuated by the political parties in Pennsylva- 
nia, as they were divided in relation to the administration of 
the government. We give the representations of that affair, 
and the public feeling, by the Kev. John Ewing, D. D., who 
then, and after, sustained a high reputation for learning, intel- 
ligence, piety, and purity of character. It is in his letter ad- 
dressed to Joseph Peed, at London, who was afterwards Presi- 
dent of the Executive Council. 

Philadelphia, 1764. 

" As to public affairs, our Province is greatly involved in in- 



*Gordon, 408. 



77 

testine feude, at a time when we should rather unite, one and 
all, to manage the aflfairs of our social government, with pru- 
dence and discretion. A few designing men, having engrossed 
too much power into their hands, are pushing matters beyond 
all bounds. There are twenty-two Quakers in our Assembly 
at present, who, although they wont absolutely refuse to grant 
money for the King's use, yet never fail to contrive matters in 
such a manner as to afford little or no assistance to the poor dis- 
tressed frontiers ; while our public money is lavishly squandered 
away, in supporting a number of savages, who have been mur- 
dering and scalping us for many years past. This has enraged 
some desperate young men, who had lost their nearest relatives- 
by these very Ipdians, to cut off about twenty Indians, that 
lived near Lancaster, who had, during the war, carried on a con- 
stant intercourse with our other enemies ; and they came down to 
Germantown to inquire why Indians, known to be enemies, 
were supported, even in luxury, with the best that our markets 
afforded, at the pubUc expense, while they were left in the ut- 
most distress on the frontiers, in want of the necessaries of life. 
Ample promises were made to them, that their grievances 
should be redressed, upon which, they immediately dispersed 
and went home. These persons have been unjustly represented 
as endeavoring to overturn the government, when nothing was 
more distant from their minds. However this matter may be 
looked upon in Britain, where you know very little of the mat- 
ter, you may be assured that ninety-nine in an hundred of the 
Province, are firmly persuaded that they are maintaining our 
enemies, while our friends, who are suffering the greatest ex- 
tremities, are neglected ; and that few, but Quakers, think that 
the Lancaster Indians have suffered anything but their just de- 
serts. 'Tis not a little surprising to us here, that orders should 
be sent from the Crown to apprehend and bring to justice, those 
persons who have cut off that nest of enemies, that lived near 
Lancaster. They never were subjects to his Majesty ; were a 
free, independent State, retaining all the powers of a free State, 
sat in all our treaties with the Indians, as one of the tribes be- 
longing to the Six Nations, in alliance with us; they entertain- 



78 

ed tlie Freiicli and Indian spies ; gave intelligence to tliem, of 
the defenceless state of the Province ; furnished them with our 
Gazette every week or fortnight ; gave them intelligence of all 
the dispositions of the Province army against them ; were fre- 
quently with the French and Indians at their forts and towns ; 
supplied them with warlike stores; joined with the strange In- 
dians in their war dances, aud in the parties that made excur- 
sions on our frontiers ; were ready to take up the hatchet 
against the English openly, when the French requested it ; act- 
tually murdered and scalped some of the frontier inhabitants ; 
insolently boasted of the murders they had committed, when 
they saw our blood was cooled, after the last treaty at Lancas- 
ter ; confessed they had been at war with us, and would soon be 
at war with us again, (which accordingly happened) and even 
went so far as to put one of their own warriors, Tegarie, to death'' 
because he refused to go to war with them against the English. 
All these things were known to the frontier inhabitants, and 
are since proved upon oath. This occasioned them to be cut off 
by about forty or fifty persons, collected from all the frontier 
counties, though they were called by the name of the little 
township of Paxton, where possibly the smallest part of them 
resided. And what surprises us more than all, the accounts we 
have from England is, that our Assembly, in a petition they 
have drawn up to the King, for a change of government, should 
represent this Province in a state of uproar and riot, and when 
not a man in it has once resisted a single officer of the govern- 
ment, nor a single act of violence committed, unless you call 
the Lancaster affair such, although it was no more than going 
to war with that tribe, as they had done before with others, 
without a formal proclamation of war by government. I have 
not time, as you may guess by this scrawl, to write more at 
this time. 

P. S. You may publish the above account of the Lancaster 
Indians, if you please." — Life of Reed, Vol. 1, page 34. 

At this period of excitement, the inhabitants of the frontier 
and their friends, renewed their accusation against the Qua- 
kers, charging them with having encouraged the Indians in. 



79 

tlieir hostilities asrainst the whites, and havino; aided them when 
so enojao-ed, with sruns and other instruments of death. These- 
accusations were repelled by them, as unfounded, whilst they 
reproached the Scotch Irish settlers of the Province as aiders 
and abettors of the Conestoga murders, by the party from Pax- 
ton. When the charge of craelty and hatred to the Indian 
tribes, by the Scotch Irish race, has since been repeated by 
writers or compilers of history, the evidence to support the al- 
legation, when any was furnished, was a reference to the Cones- 
toga murders. Charges against the Society of Friends, for 
having encouraged and aided the Indians in their barbarous 
war on the whites, could only be referred to some few individ- 
uals of that respectable class of the population, whose princi- 
ples were opposed to war, and who were distinguished for peace,, 
order and obedience to the law. It was unreasonable as well 
as unjust, to charge either of these large masses of the popula- 
tion of the Province, with the wrongs and crimes perpetrated 
by a few of their misguided individuals. 

On the part of the Scotch and Irish, and the Presbyterian 
Church, who were implicated by their opponents in these out- 
rages against humanity and law, we repel the imputation as- 
unfounded, and made without evidence and against evidence. 
There is the authority of the Kev. Mr. Elder, who resided near 
the residence of these offenders, " that they were a few hot- 
headed, ill-advised persons ; that there was not one person of 
judgement or prudence, that had been in anywise concerned in 
it." " It was an ebullition of wrath caused by momentary ex- 
citement." On these excited men, no person would be supposed 
to have more influence than the Rev. Mr. Elder. He was. 
known to have no undue partiality for tJi^se Indian enemies^ 
as for years, under the appointment of the Provincial govern- 
ment, he had the command of a company for the defence of the 
frontier, against the Indian ravages, which was done faithfully,, 
at the peril of health and life. That influence was exerted in 
vain, to subdue the excitement, or restrain the desperate pur- 
pose of these men. He also dispatched an express after the 
party of rioters, to inform the government of their hostile pur- 



80 

poses. The Governor in his reply to Mr. Elder, dated 29th of 
Dec, 1763, expressed his approbation of his endeavors to pre- 
vent the execution of their wicked purposes. The most exten- 
sive and numerous Scotch Irish settlement in the Province at 
that time, was in the Cumberland valley, having in it more of 
the Presbyterian element, dwelling together, than in any other 
district. It had suffered more from Indian barbarities than 
any other part of the Province, and at the time of the murder 
of the Conestoga Indians, hundreds of its families were mourn- 
ing over murdered and scalped members, by the hands of 
treacherous savages ; and were destitute of the necessaries of 
life, of which they had been deprived by the same enemy. The 
eastern end of this valley was separated from Paxton township 
only by the river Susquehanna ; yet there is no evidence that 
the inhabitants of this valley had participated in this transac- 
tion, or had any connection with it. There is the highest evi- 
dence from the public documents of the time, to exonerate them 
from the imputation. Col. John Armstrong, of Cumberland 
county, at the time a magistrate, and having command of the 
Provincial troops of that county, by his letter to Governor Penn, 
from Carlisle, 28th Dec. 1763, acknowledges the receipt of the 
Governor's proclamation against the offenders at Conestoga, 
which he had distributed throughout the county, and states : 
" I have the pleasure to inform your Honor, that not one per- 
son of the county of Cumberland, so far as I can learn, has been 
consulted or concerned in that inhuman and scandalous piece 
of butchery ; and I should be very sorry, that ever the people 
of this county, should attempt avenging their injuries, on the 
heads of a few innoffensive and superannuated savages, whom 
nature had already devoted to the dust."* This is the state- 
ment of an intelligeiTt, brave and honest man, who had the best 
sources of information, and who would state truly what he did 
know, without being influenced by fear or favor,' 

It was this extensive settlement, as before narrated, which 
maintained, from its commencement, until the Indians became 



*Penn. Arch .vol. 4, page 152. 



81 

tlie public enemy, a period of aboat twenty years friendly and 
peaceable intercourse with them, without blood-shed, strife or 
violence. 

We are not aware of any evidence of the Scotch Irish settlers 
of Backs, and Chester counties, eastern portion of Lancaster or 
York counties, having had any connection with the massacres 
perpetrated on the Indians at Conestoga or Lancaster. That 
they did not discover or apprehend the perpetrators, if even in 
their power, was not a criminality that identified them with 
the offenders. The public mind was then convulsed with ex- 
citement and passion, and the public authorities were so unset- 
tled, as to be unsafe holders of the scales of justice. At such a 
crisis, innocence might readily suffer, and the guilty escape. 
The humanity of the law established as its maxim, that it was 
better that many guilty persons might escape, than one inno- 
cent person suffer wrong, by the adjudication of the law. It 
allowed not angry passions to direct and control its measures 
and impose its penalties. The perpetrators were allowed to es- 
cape, by reason of public sentiment being so strong against the 
Indians, as having been the treacherous and murderous enemy 
of the frontier inhabitants, and of the unwillingness, on the 
part of the great majority of the people, to apprehend or punish 
the men, who had retaliated, as they supposed, on the tribe, 
some of their bloody cruelties, that had been inflicted on the de- 
fenceless white families. 

The murder of the Conestoga Indians, with its extenuation, 
is a stain upon the annals of Pennsylvania. It was a tragedy 
performed by a few men under the impulse of feelings excited 
at the time,by the mangled bodies of wives and children on the 
frontier, from the hands of Indians, in which the Conestoga In- 
dians, if not active participants, were believed to be aiders and 
abettors. The reproach of this single act of barbarous warfare, 
is not to be put down to the condemnation of Pennsylvania, or 
any classes of her inhabitants, or to subject them to the charge 
of excess ao-ainst hnmanitv. 

Reproachful as this warfare was to the Province, it is to be 
recollected, that Pennsylvania, was not the only colony of North 
6 



82 

America, which, in times of excitement, had allowed high 
crimes to be perpetrated with impunity, under less extenuating 
circumstances in their early governments, by excesses and out- 
rages against the law and the lives and the property of their 
people. Massachusetts had its judicial murders, in the tribu- 
nals of the law, by trials conducted in the usual form, by which 
innocent men and women in numbers were convicted and exe- 
cuted for witchcraft. The city of New York, in 1741, with a 
population of about eight thousand, was the theatre of a cruel 
and bloody delusion, not less lamentable, under which judges 
and lawyers prostituted their stations to sacrifice under color 
of law, slaves falsely accused of arson — tried without counsel — 
convicted upon insufficient evidence — and of whom thirteenioere 
turned at the stake, eighteen hanged, and seventy-one trans- 
ported.* 

At the recital of such tragedies, humanity revolts, and de- 
plores the infirmity and depravity that perpetrated them, as 
well as the weakness of the law, and the inefficiency of its con- 
stituted authorities, that allowed the escape of the ofienders 
with impunity. 

Lawless and riotous proceedings were had near Fort Loudon 
in March 1765, in which some of the inhabitants of Cumber- 
land valley, residing near the base of the Kittocbtinny moun- 
tain, participated. It being known that a large amount of 
goods had been brought into the neighborhood, from Philadel- 
phia, in wagons, to be carried by the Indian traders on pack 
horses to places of Indian trade, in the west of the mountains, 
a party of men assembled, amounting to about fifty, where 
Mercersburg is now situated, being on the traders' road. They 
there met the traders with their horses and goods on the way. 
One of the assembled party, Mr. Duffield, who was respected 
and prominent in the county, desired the persons having charge 
of the horses and goods, to store them and not proceed without 
further orders. They made light of this request and disregard- 
ed it, by pursuing their way over the mountain to the west. 



*Hil. His., Vol. 2. p 392. 



83 

The assembled party pursued them across the Tuscarora moun- 
tain into the Great Cove, and again urged them to store up 
their goods. Mr. Daffield reasoned with them, on the impro- 
priety of their proceedings, and the great danger the frontier 
inhabitants would be exposed to, if the Indians should now get 
a supply, as it was well known they had scarcely any ammu- 
nition. To supply them now, would be a kind of murder, and 
would be illegally trading at the expense of the blood and safety 
of the frontiers. The traders ridiculed what he said, and dis- 
regarded it. Mr. Duffield and his party returned to their 
homes without any attempt to restrain the trading party. 
Lieut. James Smith, one of Mr. Duffield's party, was not satis- 
fied to be so repulsed. Mr. Smith had commanded for some 
years, a company of Eangers, employed in the defence of that 
frontier, against the incursions of the savages. He was a man of 
resolution, of indomitable courage, and inflexible from any pur- 
pose which he deemed necessary for the safety of the inhabit- 
ants. "With ten of his old company, he, the following night, 
pursued the traders, whom they overtook on Sideling Hill. 
They attacked them by shooting their horses, and required 
them to leave their goods, except their private property, and 
retire. This was done, and the goods for trading, consisting, 
amongst other things, of blankets, l^ad, tomahawks and scalp- 
ing knives, were burned and destroyed, and after this, gun pow- 
der, which they had stored. The traders returned to Fort 
Loudon, which was then under the command of Lieut. Grant, a 
Eoyal officer, with a company of Highland soldiers, who assist- 
ed in arresting, without oath or warrant, or any process from a 
magistrate, a number of the inhabitants of the neighborhood, 
who had no concern in the attack on the traders, or the de- 
struction of their goods, and who were brought to Fort Loudon 
and there confined. Smith soon appeared before the Fort, with 
three hundred riflemen under his command, when a parley was 
had, which led to the immediate release of the confined inhab- 
itants. There was still kept in the Fort some of their guns, 
that had been taken by the soldiers. Lieut. Grant, having 
gone into the country, near the Fort, was taken into custody 



84 

by some of the dissatisfied inhabitants, and released on his 
promise to deliver up the guns withheld in the Fort, and which 
was complied with. 

The author of these violent proceedings was Lieut. Smith, 
having with him ten of his rangers. The inhabitants of the 
neighborhood of Fort Loudon promptly assembled to resist and 
redress the arbitrary and illegal proceedings of the soldiers 
from Fort Loudan, in arresting and confining at their will, re- 
spectable persons who had no participation in the affair. The 
proceedings of Smith and his party, had their approbation, as 
necessary to the defence and safety of that frontier against a 
savage enemy. That enemy had the preceding summer, sur- 
prised the inhabitants of Conococheague, by their sudden and 
unexpected attack, inflicted on them the most cruel barbarities, 
murdering and scalping many, amongst whom was a school- 
master and the children of the school. Several tribes of In- 
dians were still in hostile attitude in their wild retreats, on the 
western waters. As the government had no force adequate to 
the protection of the frontier, or the chastisement of the skulking 
and bloody savages, who were generally successful in their rav- 
ages, the great reliance for peace on the frontier, was the want 
of means and supplies with the Indians, to enable or encourage 
them to renew their murderous incursions. 

An Act of Assembly of Oct., 1763, prohibited the selling of 
guns, powder, or other warlike stores, to the Indians. The 
trader who had a license to trade with the Indians, was prohib- 
ited from selling them military stores or war implements. 
These traders had long been reputed vicious, lawless and profli- 
gate, regardless of the law, the Governor's proclamations and 
the complaints of the Indians in relation to their traffic with 
the Indians in Rum. The provincial government acknowledged 
its inability to restrain them, and execute the law, and advised 
the Indians before the Indian wars, to execute the law them- 
selves against the traders, by seizing and destroying the Eum 
brought to their trading places. The government had not j^et 
done any thing efficient for the defence of the frontier inhabit- 
ants. Those in the Cumberland valley, had been left in a great 



85 

measure, to their own resources and defences, during the nine 
years of Indian war, following Braddock's defeat. To them 
these wars were attended with the sacrifice of many men, 
women and children, and the destruction of much of their prop- 
erty. 

The apprehension of the renewal of these savage wars in the 
coming season, was overwhelming to the inhabitants on west Con- 
ococheague, who, living near the base of the mountains, through 
which the Indians had their war paths, were most exposed to 
their incursions. That apprehension was well founded, and the 
danger imminent, if the Indians were stimulated by a supply 
from the traders of military stores and implements of murder. 
The public exigency and safety demanded prompt action ; the 
peace of the country was involved. The question was one of 
life or death, to an extensive settlement. The only effectual 
restraint upon them, and others pursuing the same trade, was 
the destruction of their property. This, weighed against the 
blood, lives and property of the inhabitants of this frontier, was 
as the dust of the balance. The men who had for years per- 
iled their lives in defence of that frontier, assumed to sieze and 
destroy- their military stores, on their way to the enemy. 

The proceedings of these border inhabitants against the In- 
dian traders and the garrison at Fort Loudon, were very offen- 
sive to the officers of goverment. Gen. Gage, who commanded 
the Koyal forces in the Province, was indignant at the disre- 
spect manifested for the King's fort and gcirrison. The Gover- 
nor had warrants issued for the arrest of Lieut. Smith and the 
other offenders. 

The public sentiment of the great mass of the people, was so 
manifest, in favor of the arbitrary proceedings of Smith and his 
friends, as necessary to the public defence and safety of human 
lives, that the criminal proceedings instituted against them were 
withdrawn ; and as a treaty of peace was formed shortly after 
the occurrence, with the remaining tribes of Indians, who had 
been hostile, the public fears were allayed, and the traders pur- 
sued their traffic, having more regard to the laws and public 
opinion. 



86 

In the year 1768, there was a riotous and lawless proceed- 
ing, by a party of rioters, in rescuing from the prison in Car- 
lise, Frederick Stump, a German, and his German servant 
man, who were in confinement on the chargeof murdering in 
Sherman's valley, west of the Kittochtinny mountain, ten In- 
dians : four men, three women and three children. Of their 
guilt, there was no doubt. The murder was unprovoked, and 
indefensible, and in defence of himself, the monster only alleg- 
ed that the Indians were intoxicated and disorderly, and he ap- 
prehended some injury. Some of his indignant neighbors ar- 
rested him and his servant, and lodged them in Carlisle jail. 
A warrant had been issued by the Chief Justice of the Province 
for the arrest of Stump, and required him to be brought before 
him at Philadelphia, "to answer for said murders, and to be 
dealt with according to law."* Though public opinion was 
strong against the prisoners, that they ought to be convicted 
and punished, with all the severity of the law, yet the warrant 
for the removal of Stump to Philadelphia, was considered an il- 
legal encroachment on the rights of the citizen, who by law, was 
secured a trial for his crime in the county where commited, and 
a j ury of the vicinage for his triers, and it was apprehended that the 
removal of Stump, if allowed, might be a precedent for the removal 
of innocent men, who might be oppressed by a trial in a distant 
jurisdiction. Opposition to his removal was expressed and 
threats were made, inducing an apprehension of rescue from the 
Sheriff, on his way to Philadelphia, if attempted. It would seem 
that a regard to the law, public justice and the safe keeping of 
the prisoner, as well as to quiet the minds of the people, in- 
duced Justice Armstrono;, with some other magistrates, to con- 
fer on the subject, and after executing a commitment of Stump to 
the jail, on the charge of murder, they advised the Sheriff, for 
fear of rescue on the way, which was threatened, until further 
orders were received from the government, to defer the remov- 
al. A party under arms, Vv'ho had assembled for the rescue, 
then dispersed, when informed that Stump and his servant man 
were committed to the jail of Cumberland. 



*Col. Rec, Vol. 9, p. 416. 



87 

Two days after, an armed party of Stump's friends irom Sher- 
man's valley came to Carlisle, and being joined by some others, 
amounting to about seventy, at an early hour in the day, ap- 
proached the jail with arms, having sent a few without arms be- 
fore them, who were admitted within the door of the jail. Col. 
Armstrong, with some other magistrates and citizens, on the 
first alarm, repaired to the jail, and there expostulated with the 
rioters and commanded them to desist from their unlawful pur- 
pose of rescuing the prisoners. Whilst Justice Armstrong was 
striving to disperse them, the rioters disregarded the magis- 
trates, and repelled them with indignities and violence, and by 
numbers and arms effected a rescue of Stump and Ironsetter, 
whom they carried off in the direction of the mountains.* Car- 
lisle was then but a small village, with a population too few to 
repel or arrest the armed rioters, whose lawless act at the jail 
was a surprise, and occupied but a few minutes. The rioters 
were immediately pursued by Col. Armstrong, the Sheriff, Eev. 
Mr. Steele, and others, who hoped to be able to induce them to 
return the prisoners, bat did not overtake them. The rioters, 
apprehensive of pursuit, hastened across the mountain to Sher- 
man's valley. The magistrates in person, with the sheriff, pro- 
ceeded in a day or two after, into Sherman's valley, in search 
of the prisoners and their party, but without success. Stump 
had fled, it was said, to Lancaster county, where his relatives 
resided, having his German servant with him. From that, it 
was believed they made their escape into Virginia, and of them 
no furthur intelligence was heard, though the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania offered a reward of £200 for the;-, pprehension of Stump 
and £100 for the apprehension of Ironsetter. 

Gov. Penn, in his letter to Col. Armstrong, dated 3d Feb., 
176S, reproves the magistrates of Cumberland county for their 
"insolence, who had taken upon them to suggest or even to sup- 
pose that the government or judges intended to do so illegal an 
act as to try the prisoners in any other county or place than 
where the fact was committed," and that he was to be removed 



*Col. Rec, Vol. 9, 450— 462— 4G4r-484. 



to the city only for examination.* The magistrates and in- 
habitants of Cumberland county were excusable for not com- 
prehending why these criminals were to be conveyed to the city 
of Philadelphia, with a guard and at the risk of escape or res- 
cue, for the mere purpose of examination, to be reconveyed to Car- 
lisle for trial, when the crime of murder, with which they were 
charged, was admitted by them, on which they were committed 
to the county prison at Carlisle, by the magistrates of Cumber- 
land county, having authority, where they were in confinement 
and in irons, to await their trial. 

In a communication from Col. Armstrong to the Governor, of 
7th Feb., 1768, he says: "I assure you, after the closest exam- 
ination I have been able to make, even the ignorant and giddy 
crowd who have committed this hasty, flagrant violation of the 
established course of justice, have done it under the mistaken 
apprehension of the intention of carrying Stump to Philadel- 
phia."t Though the feeling of the mass of the people was in- 
dignation towards these barbarous murderers, yet they were 
not satisfied that a precedent should be established in a case so 
criminal, that might be used again to the prejudice of others, 
unjustly accused. The friends of Stump, who were desirous of 
his escape, took advantage of the general feeling in the county, 
against the illegality of the removal of the prisoners, and with 
the assistance of some of these persons, were successful in ef- 
fecting the rescue of Stump. Their offence was a great one 
against public justice, to be reprobated by every good citizen. 
Such offences, if allowed to pass without signal punishment, 
impair the structure of government and endanger the security 
and safety of the community, and lessen the respect for the the 
public authorities and law, in substitutinganarchy and violence 
for law and peace. It was a great reflection on the magistrates 
of Cumberland county, and its inhabitants, that these two sav- 
age white men should have been allowed to escape the sever- 
est penalty of the law, which they deserved. 

This riotous act is not to be imputed to any one national 



*Col. Rec, Vol. 9, 446. fCol. Rec, Vol. 9, 402. 



89 

class or religious denomination. It was made up of persons 
professing to belong to several. Justices Armstrong, K. Miller, 
W. Lyon, Kev. Mr. Steele, and others, wlio were active and 
resolute in opposing the rioters, as well as pursuing them and 
the prisoners, were of Irish nativity, and belonged to the Pres- 
byterian Church. Though Stump and Ironsetter were Germans 
and may have been assisted in their rescue and escape, by some 
of their German relatives, it would be unjust and illiberal, to 
reproach the German population of Cumberland or Lancaster 
counties, for the crimes of these reckless individuals. 

The Kittochtinny valley, east and west of the Susquehanna, 
being, during the Indian wars, the frontier of the Province of 
Pennsylvania, was harassed for eight years and more, with all 
the ravages and cruelties of savage warfare. The defence of it 
was cast almost entirely on the inhabitants, by the remissness 
of the Royal and Provincial governments to provide for the 
public defence ; men would organize themselves into military 
companies, under the command of some selected leader. 
Amongst the first companies organized on west Conococheague, 
on the bloody outbreak by the Delaware Indians, in 1755, was 
one, which selected for its captain, the Eev. John Steele, their 
Presbyterian pastor. This command was accepted by Mr. 
Steele, and executed with so much skill, bravery and judgment, 
as to commend him to the Provincial government, which ap- 
pointed him a Captain of the Provincial troops. This appoint- 
ment he held for many years, to the benefit of the public 
service and the satisfaction of the government. He was reputed 
a sound divine, of piety and learning, and did not relinquish 
the ministry for arms. Such was the state of the country, 
that he often exercised his ministry with his gun at his side, 
addressing his congregation, the men of which, had their weap- 
ons within their reach. 

One of the most efficient men of that day, in the Cumber- 
land valley, was Col. John Armstrong of Carlisle, of Irish na- 
tivity, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was a 
man of intelligence, of integrity and high religious and moral 
character. He was resolute and brave, and though living habit- 



90 

ually in the fear of the Lord, he feared not the face of man. 

Dr. Hugh Mercer, a Scotchman, of talent and education, 
had taken up his residence in the southern part of this valley, 
near the Maryland line, a short time before Braddock's defeat. 
Having enjoyed some military training and experience in Eu- 
rope, and having a taste for military life, he was early in 1756, 
appointed a Captain in the Provincial service, in which he was 
continued for some years, being promoted to the rank of Col- 
onel. 

Col. Armstrong and Col. Mercer, were in 1776, appointed 
by the American Congress, Generals of its Pvevolutionary Ar- 
my, on the recommendation of Washington, who had served 
with them in Forbes' campaign in 1758, and knew their quali- 
fications. Col. Armstrong served his country with ability and 
fidelity in the trying struggle for American Independence. 
General Mercer, highly esteemed by Washington, and having 
the confidence of the army and the country, fell, mortally 
wounded and mangled, by the British soldiery, at the battle of 
Princeton, in January, 1777, whilst gallantly and bravely 
leading his division against the royal army. 

There might be named many other officers, who rendered 
signal services, as commanders of Provincial troops, or of rang- 
ers, in the Kittochtinny valley, during the Indian wars, expos- 
ing their health and lives in defence of their country and 
friends. 

The expedition organized by Col. Armstrong, in this valley, 
in 1756, for an attack on the Indian town and fortress at Kit- 
tanuing, west of the mountains, was conducted, through a 
mountainous country in the possession of the enemy, with a 
skill, judgment, celerity, bravery, hardihood and success, not 
surpassed by any armament, or other military expedition of the 
Colonies The corporation of Philadelphia, on his victory, 
addressed a complimentary letter to Colonel Armstrong, thank- 
ing him and his officers, for their gallant conduct, and present- 
ed to him a piece of plate, and a medal, struck for the occasion, 
with a suitable device. 

During these wars, more than half of the inhabitants ol the 



91 

Cumberland valley sought safety for themselves and families in 
the eastern parts of York and Lancaster counties. Pastors 
could no longer assemble their congregations for worship, with- 
out great peril, and for security, they accompanied their friends 
to the older settlements. Even the schools had to be discon- 
tinued ; for the master and scholars of a school in tho very 
heart of the Conococheagne settlement, were barbarously mur- 
dered by a party of Indians, who had penetrated the valley 
without discovery, and when their hostilities were not appre- 
hended. A classical school had been established by Mr. John 
King, (afterwards the Eev. Dr. King) in the year 1761, in the 
Conococheasrue settlement, which was continued for some 
years, until the incursions of the savages made it unsafe. 

In and after 1765, the inhabitants, who had fled, returned 
with their families to the valley, resumed their desolate and 
dilapidated farms ; applied themselves with renewed industry 
and perseverance, to re-build dwellings, prepare their fields for 
a crop of grain, and replenish their furniture and stock of cat- 
tle and farm implements, as fast as resources and opportuni- 
ties would allow. Congregations were assembled for worship, 
as in the preceding times oi peace, and in 1767 — 69, pastors 
were again called to, and installed over the several Presbyteri- . 
an congregations in the valley, vacated by the wars and rava- 
ges of a barbarous enemy. Several of these. Dr. Cooper, Dr. 
King, and Dr. Dufiield, were men eminent for learning, piety, 
and usefulness in the Presbyterian Church. 

The settlement progressed rapidly in population and improve- 
ment. The only public grievances commanding attention, for 
some years, were political ones, common to the inhabitants of 
this Province and of the other colonies, who, in public and pri- 
vate, discussed the relations between the colonies and parent 
State, involving the constitutional and chartered rights of 
American freemen. The Irish and Scotch emigrants, who had 
removed from the mother country and friends, to cross the 
ocean for a wilderness, were not subjects for passive obedience; 
or willing to surrender their rights or liberties to the exac- 
tions of either Kins: or Parliament. 



92 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Scotch Irish opposition to British taxation — Kittochtin- 
ny or Cumberland valley, in favor of American Inde- 
pendence — Resolntions — Ililitary organizations — Uarly 
expression of public sentiTnent in favor of separation from 
Great Britain — Participation in maintenance of Indepen- 
dence — Prompt action to form an army — Congress of VJ^^ 
— Irish and Scotch members from Pennsylvania — Abili- 
ties — Influence and measures — After war, inhabitants of 
Cumberland county resumed their labors on their farm,s — 
Megardfor Education — Dickinson College. 

When die wrath of the Royal government was poured out on 
the colony of Massachusetts, and the port of Boston closed, 
there was no class in any of the colonies, with whom thers 
was greater sympathy, for the oppressed of New England, or 
who were more indignant against the tyrannical measures ot the 
Royal government, than with the Irish and Scotch inhabitants 
of Pennsylvania, and their immediate descendants. 

At a meeting of the freeholders and freemen of Cumberland 
county, held at Carlisle on the 12th of July, 1774, John Mont- 
gomery, Esq., of Irish nativity, in the Chair, resolutions were 
adopted in condemnation of the act of Parliament closing the 
port of Boston, and recommending vigorous and prudent mea- 
sures to obtain a redress of grievances. They recommended 
a general Congress of deputies from all the colonies — the non- 
importation of any merchandize from Great Britain, or depend- 
encies, and promised contributions to the relief of their 
suffering brethren in Boston. At this meeting, deputies were 
appointed to meet, immediately, others from other counties of 
the Province, at Philadelphia, to concert measures pieparatory 
to the general Congress. Their deputies were James Wilson, 
of Scotch nativity, a member of the Congress of 1776, a signer 
of the Declaration of Independence ; and after the organization 
of the Federal government, a Judge of the Supreme Court of 



93 

the United States, — William Irwin and Kobert Magaw, of 
Irish origin, the first of whom, was a General, and the latter a 
Colonel, in the army of the Revolution, from Pennsylvania. 

The blood of American freeman was first shed at Lexington 
by British soldiery, under the command of Royal officers, 
on the 19th April 1775, and proclaimed that the arbitrary acts 
of parliament and the tyrannical measures of the ministry, 
were to be enforced by arms. The intelligence in Pennsylva- 
nia was received with a blaze of indignation. Though war 
news, in those days, was only transmitted with the speed of 
the post horse, and there were only six or eight newspapers 
published in the Province, yet the tocsin of alarm soon extend- 
ed through its towns, villages, hills and valleys. At Philadel- 
phia, on the 24th of April, its citizens assembled in thousands, 
resolved to form military associations for the protection of 
their property, liberties and lives. The like associations were 
immediately formed in the adjoining counties. In the distant 
county of Cumberland, the war cry was no sooner sounded, 
than its freemen rallied in thousands, for military association 
and organization, in defence of their rights. The American 
archives preserve a letter from Carlisle, written on 6th May, 
1775, in which it is stated: "Yesterday the County committee 
met from nineteen townships, on the short notice they had. 
Above three thousand men have already associated, the arms 
returned amounted to about fifteen hundred. The committee 
have voted five hundred efi'ective men, besides commissioned 
officers, to be immediately drafted, taken into pay, armed and 
disciplined, to march on the first emergency, to be paid and 
supported as long as necessary, by a tax on all estates, real 
and personal in the county."* This was not vapor on the part 
of the men of Cumberland valley. They were sincere and in 
earnest in their associations, and inflexible in purpose, as a 
short time evinced. The memorable engagement at Breed's 
and Bunker's hill, on the 17th June, 1775, aroused the colo- 
nists to increased activity. It proved that untrained militia 
could contend successfully with trained and disciplined vete- 

* Amer. Arch., Vol. 2, OIG. 



94 

rans ; and whilst it astounded British commanders, it increased 
the confidence of the American patriot, in the safety of his 
liberty and rights. The sword was drawn by both contend- 
ing parties, and their measures were for battle ; negotiation 
and concession were no longer to be allowed to subjects, by a 
haughty and tyrannical government. The controversy was to 
be settled by the last resort of nations — arms. The colonists 
saw before them a protracted war, with all its calamities, be- 
tween which, and abject submission, they had no alternative. 
They chose the former, regardless of its cost and sacrifices. 
The Royal commanders, with their ministerial rulers, anticipa- 
ted but a single campaign, in which their trained and well pro- 
vided army was to march where it pleased to subdue and pun- 
ish the flying rebels. 

The public service and defence of the country, demanded 
from the colonies, an army adequate to the emergency. Con- 
gress, in May, 1775, in apportioning that army, required from 
Pennsylvania four thousand three hundred men. The appoint- 
ment of Washington, by the unanimous vote of the Continent- 
al Congress, as Commander in Chief of their army, was in itself, 
a tower of strength to the colonists. 

The military spirit and ardor of the freemen of Pennsylvania, 
were not abated, by the prospect of immediate service in the 
American army, in a distant colony. 

The call for a military force was responded to from the city 
of Philadelphia, and the inland counties, with great alacrity, 
and by immediate measures of organization and preparation. 
The freemen of this Province did not wait for forced draughts ; 
companies of volunteers were immediately organized, to be 
commanded by oflacers of their own choice. From the Cum- 
berland valley, in the summer of 1775, companies, under the 
command of ofl&cers of their choice, obeyed from inclination 
and respect, marched to join the army under the command of 
Washington, in the seige of Boston. One of these companies 
was from Chambersburg, under the command of James Cham- 
bers, as Captain, which marched in June, 1775, and joined the 
army at Boston, in August, 1775, under the command of 



95 

Washincrton. James Chambers beino; in a short time advanced 
to the rank of a Colonel of the regular army, remained in the 
military service of the country till the close of the Kevolutionary 
war. 

Other companies were from west Conococheague, Shippens- 
burg, Carlisle and the eastern part of the county. These were 
made up of many hardy and efhcient men, the heads of families, 
respectable and substantial freeholders. They were without 
acquaintance with the discipline of European armies, and with- 
out military dress, or accoutrements. They were all familiar 
with the use of fire arms, and some had experience in the fron- 
tier wars against the French and Indians. They were the men 
for the times, inured to toil and exposure ; stout and athletic. 
They were soldiers, who could march, when an emergency re- 
quired, without tents or baggage wagons, carrying their equip- 
ments in their knapsacks. With a blanket they could sleep on 
the bare f^arth, with the open air for their apartment, and the 
firmament for their covering. The campaign of these men was 
not a mere parade, or a summer excursion, to see the enemy 
and return to their homes. An extended service was before 
them, not to be mistaken, and many of these men are known 
to have remained from that time, in the military service of their 
country for years, and some of them until Independence was 
acknowledged and the army disbanded ; having only at distant 
intervals, made a short visit to their families when the public 
service would allow. Some others had, in other colonies, a 
soldier's buriel and grave. 

Notwithstanding the bloody contest with arms, in which the 
colonists were now engaged, in defence of their lives, liberties, 
and properties, against the armies of the Eoyal government, 
there was still manifested universally a repugnance to dissolve 
the connection between the colonists and the parent State. 
The Assembly of Pennsylvania, in the appointment of delegates, 
in November, 1775, to represent the Province in Congress, 
•expressly instructed them, ''that you, in behalf of this colony, 
dissent from and utterly reject, any propositions, should such 
be made, that may cause, ur lead to a separation from our 



96 

mother country, or a change of the form of this government."* 
The progress of the war and the oppressive exactions of the 
British government, after a few months unsettled pubUc opin- 
ion on this question, and the necessity and policy of indepen- 
dence, became a debatable question with the colonists, in their 
social meetings. At this time there was no newspaper publish- 
ed in Pennsylvania, we believe, west of York. The freemen of 
the county of Cumberland, in this Province, were amongst the 
first to form the opinion, that the safety and welfare of the 
colonies, did render separation, from the mother country, ne- 
cessary. The first public expression of that sentiment, and its 
embodiment in a memorial, emanated from the freemen and 
inhabitants of that county, to the Assembly of the Province, 
and is amongst the national archives.f It is an able, temper- 
ate, patriotic expression of the considerations that induced them 
to petition the Assembly, "that the last instructions which it 
gave to the delegates of this Province in Congress, wherein 
they are enjoined not to consent to any step which may cause 
or lead to a separation from Great Britain, raay he withdrawn.'" 
This memorial was presented to the Assembly on the 28th of 
May, 1776, and on the 5th of June, after a debate of considera- 
ble length, was referred, by a large majority, to a committee, 
to bring in new instructions, to the delegates of this Province 
in Congress.^ Instructions, in conformity to the memorial of 
the Province of Cumberland, were reported, adopted, and signed 
by the Speaker, June 14th, wherein it is stated : "The situation 
of public affairs is since (their -"nstructions of November) so 
greatly altered, that we now think ourselves justifiable in 
removing the restrictions laid upon you by those instructions. "§ 
The memorial from Cumberland county bears evidence that the 
inhabitants of that county were in advance of their representa- 
tives in the Assembly, and in Congress, on the subject of 
Independence. The considerations suggested by them, had 
their influence on the Assembly, who adopted the petition of 
the memorialists, and withdrew the instructions that had been 



*Amer. Arch., Vol. 3, 140S. fAmer. Arch., 4th series, Vol. 5, 850-1. Jib. 858. gib. 8C2 



97 

given to the delegates in Congress, in opposition to Independence, 
As the Cumberland memorial was presented to the Assembly 
on the 23rd of May, 1776, it probably had occupied the atten- 
tion and consideration of the inhabitants oi the Cumberland 
valley, early in that month. As there was no remonstrance 
from this district, by any dissatisfied with the purposes of the 
memorial, we are to suppose, that it expressed the public 
sentiment of that large, respectable, and influential district of 
the Province, which had then many officers and men in the 
ranks of the Continental army. 

Resolutions, in favor of Independence, were adopted by the 
citizens of Mecklenburg county. North Carolina, on the 20th 
of May, 1775. But the feeling there at that time, was by no 
means general ; and counter combinations were also entered 
into for sustaining the royal authority. 

The Virginia convention, on the 15th of May, 1776, instruct- 
ed the Virginia delegates in Congress, to propose to that body 
a Declaration of Independence. In obedience to this, Richard 
H. Lee, of Virginia, submitted to Congress, on the 7th of June, 
the resolution, "That the United Colonies, are, and ought to 
be, free and independent States, and that their political con- 
nection with Great Britain, is, and ought to be, dissolved."* 
This resolution, after much debate, was passed, on the 8th, by 
a bare majority, seven States to six, the delegates of Pennsyl- 
vania, New Jersey and Maryland, being expressly instructed 
against it. The subject was postponed till the first of July, 
and a committee appointed to prepare a formal declaration of 
independence. The outside influence of the freemen, as well 
as of other public assemblies, in Pennsylvania, was in favor of 
independence. The Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania, 
assembled at Philadelphia, of which Thomas McKean was Pres- 
ident, unanimously, on the 24th of June, declared ''their wil- 
lingness to concur in a vote of the Congress, declaring the 
United Colonies free and independent States," which was sign- 
ed and presented to Congress. f The sense of the military in 
the rank, from Pennsylvania, then in the neighborhood of 

* Hild. U. S. Vol. 3, 7-t. t Am. Arch., Vol. 5, 962. 

7 



98 

Philadelphia, was taken by their commanders, on this momen- 
tous question. When the question was submitted to Col. Mc- 
Kean's battalion of four hundred, on the 10th of June, it was 
carried unanimously in the affirmative, and their approbation 
manifested by three huzzas. In other batalions at the same 
time, resolutions were adopted unanimously, disapproving of 
the instructions of the Assembly of Pennsylvania to the dele- 
gates in Congress, restricting them in their action. The As- 
sembly of Pennsylvania, as before stated, yielding to the 
expression of public sentiment, by the freemen of Cumberland 
valley, as well as by the Pennsylvania forces, in the army, who 
were staking their lives on the issue, with arms in their hands, 
on the side of independence, on the 14th of June rescinded 
their instructions to the delegates in Congress, who were at 
liberty to vote on the question of independence, untramelled 
by the instructions of November. 

The committee having reported a formal Declaration of In- 
dependence, which, with the resolution on the subject, was 
brought up in Congress on the 1st of July ; the majority of 
the Pennsylvania delegates, remained inflexible in their unwil- 
lingness to vote for the measure, at the head of which opposi- 
tion was the distinguished patriot, John Dickinson, who opposed 
the measure, not as bad, or uncalled for, but as premature. 
But when, on the 4th of July, the subject came up for final ac- 
tion, two of the Pennsylvania delegates, Dickinson and Morris, 
who had voted in the negative, absented themselves, and the 
vote of Pennsylvania was carried by the votes of Franklin,* 
Wilson and Morton, against the votes of Willing and Humph- 
reys. The men who voted in opposition to this measure, were 

* "Franklin had been made to feel, in the city of Philadelphia, in 1704, the uncertain- 
ty of popular favor, and the power of party prejudice, by a defeat in his election to tlie 
Assembly, after havinsr been chosen for fourteen years successively. This was an emp- 
ty triumph to his opponents, as the Assembly who convened, by a large majority, 
appointed him special agent to the Court of Great Britain, to carry out the purpose of a 
Change of Provincial government and to manage the general affairs of the Province. 
John Dickinson, who opposed this appointment, and inveighed strenuously against the 
l^olitical principles a.n(i conduct of Franklin, eulogized him as a man. The power of 
|jarty and prejudice separated, for a time, these two statesmen and patriots, anddi.stort- 
Gd truth and perverted judgment. Franklin was more than restored to public confi- 
dence. He was the advocate and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 
amongst those who refused to affi.x his name to this instrument, was the virtuous, pa- 
triotic, able, but irresolute John J)ickinson. This want of firmness, at this crisis, 
turned the tide of public sentiment, for a time, against him, whilst Franklin was eleva- 
ted to <he highest place in public estimation." 



99 

esteemed honest and patriotic men, but were too timid for the 
crisis. They faltered and shrunk from responsibility and dan- 
ger, when they should have been firm and brave. The conven- 
tion of Pennsylvania at once recalled its quaking delegates, 
and elected in their places, Colonels George Koss, James Smith, 
Dr. Benjamin Kush, George Clymer and George Taylor. 
Though the Declaration of Independence was adopted on the 
4th of July, it was not signed until the 2d of August, 1776, 
when the new delegates from Pennsylvania were present, and 
affixed their names to it. The convention selected the majority 
of the new delegates from the interior of the Province ; CoL 
Eoss, from Lancaster, Col, Smith, from New York, and George 
Taylor, from Northampton, James "Wilson, being then from 
Cumberland. Mr. Wilson, as has been stated, was of Scotch 
nativity, whilst Col. Smith and Mr. Taylor were Irishmen, all 
of whom had long been in the Province and identified with its 
best interests, and were ready to jeopard all that was dear to 
them, in defence of the liberties and independence of their 
adopted country. Amongst the other signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, were a number of Scotch or Irish nativi- 
ty, or their immediate descendants. 

The spirit of the Presbyterian ministers, on the side of 
American Independence, was exemplified by the Pev. John 
Witherspoon, D. D., and LL. D., President of Princeton Col- 
lege, of Scotch nativity and education, and eminent for talents, 
learning and eloquence. He was a member of Congress when 
the Declaration of Independence was reported, and was before 
the House for the signature of its members. Some seemed to 
waver, and deep and solemn silence reigned throughout the 
Hall. This venerable man, casting on the assembly a look of 
inexpressible interest, and unconquerable determination, re- 
marked : "That noble instrument on your table, which insures 
immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morn- 
ing by every pen in the House. He, who will not respond to 
its accents, and strain every nerve to carry into effect its pro- 
visions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. Although these 
gray hairs must descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely 



100 

rather they should descend thither by the hand of the public 
executioner, than desert at this crisis, the sacred cause of my 
country. The patriarch sat down, and forthwith the Declara- 
tion was signed by every member present." [Rev. S. S. Tem- 
ple ton.] 

By the Declaration of Independence, the Rubicon was pass- 
ed. There was no way of honorable retreat, or door open for 
safe reconciliation. The prospect before the American free- 
men was a struggle that was awfully fearful. The contest was 
one of liberty and life, against death and subjection. There 
were no half way measures. It was for every American to 
choose which side he would take, whether on the side of Amer- 
ican liberty and independence, or that of a royal and despotic 
master. Some faltered, were undecided and watched to know 
the end of the terrible beginning. Others, who had been bask- 
ing in royal favor, or whose associations had been with men 
in high places, joined the enemy, and were proclaimed traitors 
under a load of infamy, they could never remove from their 
characters. 

Men and arms were now required to fill up and strengthen 
the American army, which was sadly reduced, and was both 
imperfectly equipped and scantily provided. To supply the 
deficiency. Congress, whilst Independence was in agitation be- 
fore them, called for, from Pennsylvania, Delaware and Mary- 
land ten thousand men, of which Pennsylvania was to furnish 
six thousand, to constitute a flying camp for the protection of 
New Jersey. At the same time, a requisition of near fourteen 
thousand more were required from New England, New York, 
and New Jersey, for the general defence. 

The spirit in Pennsylvania that induced the Declaration of 
Independence, was no less vigorous after that responsible act. 
It did not evaporate in memorials, resolutions or speeches, but 
buckled on its armor to meet the enemies of the country. 
From the eastern and interior portions of the Province, the 
requisition of Congress was promptly met, by their men in 
arms, in companies, batalions and regiments. The Scotch 
Irish settlements were at once thinned of their brave, hardy 



101 

and patriotic freemen. To notice their divisions, commanders 
and numbers, would extend too much our remarks for this ar- 
ticle. The Cumberland valley, though more remote, and not 
free from Indian alarm, occasioned by savage incursions, through 
the western mountains, into the adjoining county of Bedford, 
then having but a small and sparse population, with an alacri- 
ty to be admired, furnished its volunteers, in companies, under 
the command of officers of their choice, ready to obey the com- 
mands of their country, in whatever battlefield, or post of 
danger to which they might be called. In a letter from the 
committee of Cumberland county to the President of Congress, 
dated at Carlisle, July 14th, 1776, it is stated : "By the intel- 
ligence we have already received, we think ourselves warrant- 
ed to say, that we shall be able to send five companies, viz : one 
from each batalion, to compose part of the flying camp, provi- 
ded so many good arms can be had, and three companies of 
militia for the present emergency, some of whom will march 
this week. With pleasure, we assure you, that a noble spirit 
appears amongst the inhabitants here. The spirit of marching 
to the defence of our country, is so prevalent in this town, that 
we shall not have men left sufficient to mount guard, which we 
think absolutely necessary for the safety of the inhabitants and 
ammunition, and as a watch over the ten English officers, with 
their ten servants, to keep their patrol of honor, especially as 
their brethren, lately, at Lebanon, in Lancaster county lost it; 
and as there will not be more left in town for the above pur- 
pose, we shall be obliged to hire a guard of twelve men from 
the county."* 

In a letter, from the same committee, to Congress, dated at 
Carlisle, July 31st, 1776, it is said : "The inhabitants have 
voluntarily, and very generally offered their services, and by 
the answers which we have received from the officers, it appears 
to us that eleven companies, will be sufficiently armed and ac- 
coutred, and the last of them marched from this place in about 
a week from this time. Three companies more are preparing 
if they can get arms, and many more declare themselves will- 

*Amer. Arch,, 5 Ser., I VoL, p. 328. 



102 

ing to marcli ; but we are well assured, armes are not to be got 
in this county. If arms and accoutrements are to be had at 
Philadelphia, we can send Tnore men."* 

In a letter, from the same committee, to Congress, from 
Carlisle, dated August 16th, 1776, it is stated, that "The 
twelfth company of our militia are marched to day, which 
companies contain, in the whole, eight hundred and thirty- 
three privates, with officers, nearly nine hundred men. Six 
companies more are collecting arms, and are preparing to 

march."t t 

At the time these volunteers, from the Cumberland valley, 
were pressing forward, in surprising numbers, it is to be recol- 
lected, that from this district, there were then in the Conti- 
nental army a number of officers, as well as rank and file, who, 
the year preceding, had entered the army, and were still absent 
in the military service of their country. 

Was there anywhere, in the colonies, more patriotism, reso- 
lution, and bravery, than was thus evinced, on a call to arms, 
by the hardy, intelligent citizen soldiers of this Scotch 
Irish settlement. Their territory and dwellings were in no 
danger of invasion, or of being trodden by an hostile army. 
Distance, intervening forests, rugged roads and large water 
courses, were obstacles not to be encountered by an enemy, 
who were dependent on their ships for their supplies, and their 
safe retreat, in case of reverses. 

The freemen of this extensive valley, did not, at this crisis, 
hold back their movements, either in time, or numbers, for 
forced requisitions, in retaliation for the indifi"erence manifest- 
ed by the citizens of the eastern border of the Province of 
Pennsylvania, for sufferings, and privations of the inhabitants 
of their valley, when, for years, they were exposed to the mer- 
ciless cruelties of savage enemies, aided and instigated by 
French power ; though they could not forget, that their re- 



* Amer. Arch., 5ih Ser., 1 Vol., G19. t lb-, 094. 

X The companies marching from Cumberland County, in Auptust. 1776, were command- 
ed by Captains John Steel. Samuel Po.-tleihwaite, Andrew Galbreath, Samuel McCune, 
Thomas Turbott, James McConnel, William Huston, Thomas Clark, John Button, 
Robert Culbertson, Charles Lecher, Conrad Schnider, Lieut. CoL Frederick Watts; 
other Captains were preparing to march. Amer. Arch., 5th Series, 1 Vol , page 619. 



103 

peated supplications to the Provincial government, for measures 
of defence and protection, during tlie Indian wars, that were 
laying waste their settlements, with fire and the blood of wo- 
men and children, were either disregarded, or met by tardy and 
inefficient provision, by a government, whose legislation was 
under the control then, of the representatives of Philadelphia, 
Chester and Bucks, The brave and hardy men of the Cum- 
berland valley, who had, for ten years, been exercising their 
strength and vigor to repair the waste and desolation of their 
homes and property, from which many had been driven, and 
for years, compelled to seek for their families, safety in the 
counties of Lancaster and York, did not allow themselves to 
think of resentment or retaliation, when the enemy of their 
country was menacing their State, These patriotic men were 
too magnanimous and generous, in the hour of danger, and 
public necessity, to speak, or think of old wrongs, committed 
against them, by their fellow citizens, or their late government. 
But a few days were required to arrange their affairs, collect 
their arms and plain accoutrements, when they marched forth, 
with drawn swords, and shouldered arms, to meet the public 
enemy, wherever commanded, either on Pennsylvania soil, on 
the plains of New Jersey, or elsewhere. 

The Presbyterian element, was still not only the predomi- 
nant, but almost the universal one, in this valley. Its in- 
fluence, at this juncture, was pervading, and powerful in behalf 
of the liberties and independence of the country. The tenden- 
cies of the Presbyterian influence, was to a Pepublican govern- 
ment, to which, in its organization of ministerial purity and 
workings, it was most analogous. This was manifested by the 
early movements of Presbyterian communities in Pennsylvania, 
Virginia and North Carolina, advocating independence by the 
American colonies of the British government, and the declara- 
tion of that independence. It was also manifested by the 
prompt, zealous, active, and praiseworthy cooperation of Pres- 
byterians, by their voluntary enrollment to form and maintain, 
the army of the Revolution and the independence of the 
colonies. 



104 

The company in the lead, in July, 1776, from Carlisle, was 
that under the command of the Rev. Capt. John Steele, the 
pastor of the Presbyterian congregation worshipping in or near 
Carlisle. We have before noticed Mr. Steele, as pastor of the 
Presbyterian church on west Conococheague, in the same coun- 
ty, during the Indian wars that followed Braddock's defeat. 
Having received there, the appointment of Provincial Captain, 
he officiated as the Captain of a company of rangers, as well as 
Pastor of a congregation, to whom he preached until they were 
dispersed by the savages and driven into exile. In these wars 
he had acquired military training and experience, which were 
now at the service of his country against the army of his late, 
but now rejected royal master. 

The spirit manifested in this valley, by its many volunteers, 
had been fostered by the Presbyterian clergymen of the con- 
gregations throughout its extent. Whilst they addressed the 
people, as sinners and fallen men, on their duties as Christians, 
they made eloquent appeals to their feelings, as citizens, in be- 
half of the liberties and independence of American freemen. 

In rousing the spirit of patriotism and resistance, there was 
no Presbyterian clergyman more active and influential, than 
the Rev. John King, then pastor on west Conococheague. 
Many of his addresses and discourses, during the exciting 
times of the Revolution, were in writing, and are preserved ; 
extended extracts from some of them, are given in the ''Churches 
of the Valley," by the Rev. Alfred Nevin, which are creditable 
to Dr. King, as a Christian minister and American patriot. 
His sincerity and zeal were attested by his going with his 
church-members, as their chaplain, to the seat of war. 

Dr. King was born in Lancaster county, at Chestnut Level, 
in 1740. His father, Robert King, who resided there, was an 
emigrant from Ireland, and a minister in the Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. J. King commenced his classical studies under Mr. 
Smith, and continued them at Newark Academy. He established 
about 1760, a classical school in the Cumberland valley, on 
west Conococheague, which he pursued, to the education of 
young men, for three years, until the Indian ravages and mur- 



105 

ders in the settlements disbanded his schooL His sister was 
killed there by the savages. Mr. King, after being compelled 
to leave the Conococheague settlement, on account of the In- 
dian wars, and the flight of the inhabitants, returned eastward, 
and after a short time, entered Philadelphia College, then un- 
der the care of Drs. "William Smith, and Francis Allison. 
Whilst prosecuting his studies in the College, he, at the same 
time, taught one of the higher classes in the Academy, which 
was connected with it. He graduated in 1766, and was li- 
censed to preach in 1767. In 1792, Dickinson College con- 
ferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He had good 
talents, which were diligently cultivated. Beside being a good 
Latin and Greek scholar, he had made himself well acquainted 
with the Hebrew and French. The natural and exact sciences 
had received a good deal of his attention, whilst he was w^ell 
acquainted with theology and ecclesiastical history. His rep- 
utation for ability and learning, with an extensive library, at- 
tracted to him young men, whom he received into his family, 
for the prosecution of their theological studies, preparatory to 
the ministry. Dr. King continued in his pastoral charge, from 
1769 till 1811, when he resigned, on account of health and 
bodily infirmity, having been eminently useful and much be- 
loved and respected. 

No less zealous, in the cause of Independence, w^as the Kev. 
John Craighead, pastor of the Presbyterian congregation at 
Eocky Spring, near Chambersburg, where he had been ordained 
in 1768. "Though he did not fail to preach Jesus Christ, the 
only hope of salvation, it is said, after the delivery of this 
sacred message to fallen and sinful men, on one occasion, he 
exhorted, in eloquent and patriotic strains, the youth of the 
congregation, to rise up and join the noble band then engaged 
under Washington, in struggling to free our beloved country 
from British oppression. It is related that, upon another occa- 
sion, this patriotic preacher declaimed, from the pulpit, in such 
burning and powerful terms, against the wrongs they were then 
suffering, that after one glowing description of the duty of the 
men, the whole congregation rose from their seats and declared 



106 

their willingness to march to the conflict."* The members of 
his congregation did most heroically march, in July, 1776, and 
joined the American army under the command of Washington, 
in New Jersey, and which he accompanied as chaplain; and 
with that company, was made prisoner, at Long Island, or Fort 
Washington. He remained the pastor of this congregation 
until 1799, the year of his death; "having, by his fervent and 
eloquent ministry, been instrumental, under Providence, in 
winning many souls, from darkness and sin to light and life, 
through a merciful Redeemer." 

The estimate put on patriotism, associated with religious 
character, by the Presbyterian Church, in the Revolutionary 
times, is attested in the life of the Rev. James Crawford, who, 
when a student, had been obliged to leave Princeton College, 
without his Degree, owing to the interruption of the College 
exercises, by the British army, and being inclined to emigrate 
south, he carried with him, from his pastor, the Rev. John 
Craighead, whom, we suppose to have been the ardent whig 
of that name, referred to in 1777, a certificate of his church- 
membership, and who appended to it a representation, deemed 
essential to his credit, and to the hospitality, fellowship and 
friendship of the Presbyterian settlements, where this student 
of divinity might visit, and where he might be disposed to take 
up his abode. That addition, to the usual certificate, was in 
these words : "and also, he appears well affected to the cause 
of American liberty."t 

The Rev. Robert Cooper, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian 
congregation at Middle Spring, near Shippensburg, was also 
an ardent whig, who encouraged the members of his congrega- 
tion to join with arms, the standard of their country. His 
congregation shared his spirit and resolution, and were part of 
the force of volunteers that marched from Carlisle in August, 
1776, accompanied by their brave, patriotic and pious min- 
ister. He returned to his pastoral charge, where he continued 
to minister acceptably and usefully until 1797, when he resign- 
ed. "Dr. Cooper was esteemed a man of sound and strong 

* Churches of the Valley, 185. t Davidson's His. Ch. of Ky., 80. 



107 

mind, as well as a divine of great judiciousness and piety." He 
was one of the Committee appointed in 1785, by the Synods of 
Philadelphia and New York, to revise the standards of the 
Church, which led to the adoption and establishment of the 
present plan. 

That a like patriotic spirit pervaded the Scotch Irish race, 
of this Presbyterian community, is evinced by the number of 
military companies, sixteen, that volunteered in July, 1776, to 
sustain, by their persons and lives, the Independence that was 
proclaimed. One of these companies from the neighborhood of 
Chambersburg, was made up of men of Irish and German na- 
tivity, and was commanded by Captain Conrad Schnider, of the 
German Eeformed Church, having for his first Lieutenant, John 
Crawford, of Irish nativity and Presbyterian connection. 

This valley, with the small adjacent ones, known as Path 
and Sherman's valleys, continued, throughout the Eevolution- 
ary struggle, to furnish, from time to time, reinforcements of 
men for the army, as the public exigencies required. In the 
Cumberland valley, almost every man able to carry arms and 
endure a soldier's life, had been in the military service of his 
country. Some performed more than one tour of service, 
whilst others remained in the army, under every exposure, trial, 
good and bad fortune, from the beginning of the war till the 
end of it, when Independence was acknowledged and peace 
proclaimed. 

These ready volunteers were farmers of substance, in- 
telligence and respectability; many of them the heads of 
families. Some of the officers, as well as the men in the 
ranks, were ruling elders in the Presbyterian congrega- 
tions with which they worshipped . Throughout this great val- 
ley, a Tory, a name applied in Kevolutionary times to a person 
opposed to the war and in favor of British claims, was rare, if 
to be found at all. Not to be zealous in the cause of American 
Independence, was a reproach that not only subjected the sus- 
pected individual to public disfavor, but in some instances, 
brought down upon him the notice or discipline of the church. 
The writer of this saw many years since, amongst the papers of 



108 

a deceased elder of the Presbyterian Church of Chambersburg, 
an ancient writing, purporting to be a charge preferred to the 
session of that church, against one of its members, that "Ae is 
strongly suspected of not being sincere in his professions of at- 
tachment to the cause of the Hevolution." What action was 
had on this accusation, by the church court, did not appear, 
and the minutes of the church of that period were not preserved 
by the church of&cers. It is supposed that the member accused 
exculpated himself from a charge, which, in that community, 
was not only disreputable, but degrading. This suspected per- 
son was well known to the writer as a farmer in the neighbor- 
hood, who lived in good circumstances on his farm till his death, 
about 1800, respected as a good and orderly citizen, leaving de- 
scendants of influence and distinction. 

In the notice by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsyl- 
vania, of April 12th, 1779,* for the sale of the forfeited estates, 
of persons attainted of Treason, embracing the names of num- 
bers in Philadelphia, and some in several neighboring counties, 
there was not one in the county of Cumberland. Amongst 
those at that time proclaimed as traitors, were Joseph Galloway 
and Andrew Allen, Esqs. Galloway had been Speaker of the 
Assembly of Pennsylvania, and both had been members of the 
Congress of 1776, and opposed the Declaration of Independence. 
And also Jacob Duche, an Episcopal minister of Philadelphia, 
who, on the nomination of Samuel Adams, a stiff Congregation- 
alist, had been appointed chaplain to the first Continental Con- 
gress. When the British General, Howe, entered Philadelphia, 
1778, ''Duche was among the traitors that welcomed him into 
the possession of the Capitol of the State, and had the effront- 
ery of writing and sending a letter to Washington, advising 
him to give over the ungodly cause in which he was en- 
gaged."t ; . 

The eminent John Dickson, who opposed in Congress the 
Declaration of Independence, as premature, yet when it was 
adopted, and the public resentment had prostrated him, he had 
still a patriotism in his heart that would neither allow him to 

*Col. Rec, Vol. 9, p. 745. tHild. His., 3, p. 221. 



109 

go over with his colleagues, Galloway and Allen, to the enemy, 
nor to remain neutral, but at the head of a regiment of which. 
he was Colonel, he repaired at once to the aid of hi« country, as 
a part of the flying camp in New Jersey. 

The Cumberland valley furnished to military service in the 
Revolutionary army, from its inhabitants, officers General Arm- 
strong and Irwin, Colonels Magaw, Chambers, Watts, Blair, 
Smith, Wilson, Montgomery, Buchanan and others, and Ma- 
jors, Captains and subalterns in numbers too great to be enu- 
merated here, whilst its soldiers in the rank and file were in 
number little below the taxables of their district. 

The Scotch Irish settlers, with their immediate descendants, 
from the counties of Lancaster and York, in Pennsylvania, gave 
up to their country, in the Revolutionary conflict, their brave, 
vigorous and patriotic men, who, in the camp and battlefield, 
were shoulder to shoulder with their Cumberland fellow soldiers, 
to do and serve as they were commanded. 

Officers and men of this race, from the counties named, ac- 
companied Arnold in the campaign for the invasion of Canada, 
in 1775, which they prosecuted amid hardship, privations, toils 
and sufferings indescribable, through a trackless wilderness of 
several hundred miles, and joined in the storming of Quebec, in 
which they were repulsed by an overwhelming British force, 
under which the brave and gallant General Montgomery, of 
Irish nativity, fell, mortally wounded, and many were made 
prisoners. 

Other volunteers of the same race, from the same counties, 
overpowered by the superior force of the enemy at Fort Wash- 
ington, were there made prisoners, and endured for y^ars, in 
and near New York, a captivity that was oppressive and cruel 
to officers and privates, under which many were made victims. 

Others of a like national origin, from the same places, were 
with the army under Washington, when it crossed the Dela- 
ware, with its floating ice, in mid-winter, and darkness, in the 
vicinity of their exulting and powerful enemy, and marched on 
the frozen earth, with bare and bleeding feet, to gain his rear, 
and surprised him by the capture of his Hessian mercenaries. 



110 

when he was reposing in the security, that the army of Wash- 
ington had fled and was dispersed. 

Others, from the same Scotch Irish settlements, were in that 
desperate assault, under General Wayne, at Stony Point, an al- 
most inaccessible height, defended by a garrison of six hundred 
men and a strong battery of artillery, which were attacked at 
midnight by brave American freemen, with unloaded muskets 
and fixed bayonets, and who carried it without firing a single 
gun — taking five hundred and forty-three prisoners — being one 
ot the most brilliant exploits of the war. 

The same men were also in numbers in the battles of Bran- 
dywiue, Germantown and Monmouth. There were, on a few 
occasions, trepidations and insubordination amongst some por- 
tion of the Pennsylvania militia, when without discipline or ex- 
perience, they were brought suddenly to encounter the well 
trained and well equipped forces of the enemy, that had been 
long inured to service and the conflict of arms. 

General Armstrong, in a communication to the State Exec- 
utive, Dec, 1777,* whilst he complains of the conduct of some 
of the militia of his State, says : "They judge ill of the uses of 
a body of men, who fix their character from a single action, and 
still worse, who brand the whole with the infamous conduct of 
only part, when others of the same body and on the same occa- 
sion, have fully evinced their bravery. Taken as a body, the 
militia have rendered that service, that neither the State nor 
the army could have dispensed with. They have metandskir- 
mishf^d with the enemy, as early and as often as others, and ex- 
cept the battle of Brandywine, of which, from their station, lit- 
tle fell in their way, have had a proportional share of success, 
hazard and loss of blood." 

It was not only a hard military service, in which the Scotch 
Irish of Pennsylvania were efficient and distinguished during 
the Revolutionary war, but their men were of eminence and in- 
fluence, in the Councils of the National, as well as of the State 
government, during these times that called forth the talents, 
energies, abilities, bravery and patriotism of the country. Mc- 

*Penn. Arch., Vol. 6, p. 100. 



Ill 

Kean, of Philadelphia, Wilson, of Cumberland and Smith of 
York, could, as Colonels, be at the heads of their regiments in 
the army, often to inspire and lead their men, as well as to ex- 
pose themselves in their command against the enemy, and also 
serve as the Representatives of their constituents in Congress. 
Their services in Congress were neither few nor small, and 
though without the peril of life and blood of the battle field, 
they were arduous and of great responsibility. They were all 
working members, and as members of various committees, had 
committed to them the most important duties and trusts, for 
the public welfare, which were executed by them with a wisdom, 
intelligence, and judgment that commended them to the 
Congress, and the country. In November, 1776, Mr. Wilson 
and Mr, Smith, were both appointed with Messrs. Chase, Cly- 
mer and Stockton, by Congress, an Executive Committee, who 
were charged with full powers to carry on the whole business 
of the war ; " to devise and execute measures for effectually re- 
inforcing General Washington and obstructing the progress of 
General Howe's army." This measure showed the unbounded 
confidence of Congress in the wisdom, judgement, virtue and 
firmness of the Committee, for a delegation to them of the pow- 
ers of Congress. Col. Smith, with part of the Committee, vis- 
ited the army and General Washington, and were "so impress- 
ed with the insuperable diificulties of their task, the importance 
of the crisis, and the abilities of the Commander in Chief, with 
whom alone, they were convinced, such powers could be advan- 
tageously placed." 

Col, McKean was the commander of a Regiment, a Delegate 
to Congress from Delaware, the President of Congress, and 
Chief Justice of the State of Penns}' Ivania, combining, at one 
time, all these offices. The papers emanating from the Con- 
gress of the Colonies and of the States, were distinguished for 
style, ability, moderation and firmness, as well as unexampled 
elevation ^nd dignity of sentiment ; and evinced the talents and 
high character of the members of the body, as scholars and 
statesmen. It was a high eulogium of the Congress of 1775, 
when Lord Chatham declared, "that though he had studied and 



112 

admired the free States of antiquity, the master spirits of the 
world, yet for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wis- 
dom of conclusion, no body of men could stand in preference to 
this Congress." 

History records no instance of a political body, charged with 
more important public duties and responsibilities, than the Con- 
gress of the American colonies. It had to organize, in the 
midst of war and revolution, a new and untried government for 
the union of thirteen separate colonies. It liad to provide for 
the military and civil establishments of that government ; con- 
duct war against one of the oldest and most powerful govern- 
ments of the Old World ; regulate commerce ; create and col- 
lect revenue. It had to legislate, not only against the public 
enemy, but also against tories and traitors within their fold. 
The men who discharged these trusts with wisdom, integrity, 
labor and devotion to their country, were men of no common 
energy, ability and purity. Our country was one of destiny 
for great purposes. Amongst the eminent public men of Penn- 
sylvania, during the Revolutionary war, as well as in the years 
preceding, of controversy with the mother country in relation 
to Colonial rights, illegal taxation, and Parliamentary usurpa- 
tion, there was no one more distinguished for his civil and mil- 
itary services, and many virtues, than Joseph Pv.eed, of the city 
of Philadelphia, whose active life, was one uf untiring devotion 
to the best interests of Pennsylvania and the nation ; enjoying 
the public confidence and regard for ability, integrity and pa- 
triotism, to a degree only surpassed by the Father of his 
country. He was the military secretary of Washington at 
Cambridge — Adjutant General of the Continental army — mem- 
ber of the Congress of the United States, and President of the ' 
Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania.* Whilst a 
kind Providence raised up for the Colonies a Washington, to 

* President Reed, was of Irish descent, and h<ad selected Philadelphia as his residence 
in the profession of the Law, with all the advantages cf education afforded by the best 
Institutions in the Colonies, and by an attendance at the Inns of Court for two years. 
His life andcorr'spondence. edited by his jgrandson, the Hon. William B. Reed is one 
of the most valuable, and interesting contributions to our Revolutionary History, and 
more particularly to the participation of Pennsylvania and its citizens, in that memora- 
ble struggle. Itis illustrated and verified by the various correspondence of Washing- 
ton, and others, prominent actors in the times thattried men's souls. At the early age of 
iorty-four, his active and useful life was closed by disease, in a constitution worn out 
in he service of his country. 



113 

direct and command their army, we may believe that the same 
Providential care formed for the times, the eminent and virtn- 
ous men, who composed its early Congress. 

The Scotch Irish element in the several counties of Pennsyl- 
vania, had, during the Kevolution, its full representation in the 
Executive Council of the State and Assembly, and in having at 
the head of its Judiciary, Chief Justice McKean. 

In those days, requiring clear heads, honest hearts, and 
sage statesmen, we do not find any historical recoi'd of elevated 
character, reproaching the Scotch Irish with "teing a "hot- 
he aded race, excitable in temper, unrestrainable in passion, in- 
vincible in prejudice." They occupied, with public approba- 
tion and respect, the high places in the judiciary, the floor of 
Congress, in the committee room, and in the executive gov- 
ernment. 

The emigration of the Scotch Irish from Pennsylvania, be- 
fore the Revolution, was southward, into Virginia and North 
Carolina. The first public road in the Kittoch tinny valley, 
west of the Susquehanna, was laid out in 1735, by order of the 
Court of Lancaster from Harris' Ferry, on the Susquehanna, 
to the Potomac river at Williams' Ferry, in the same valley. 
The travel and emigration was in that direction, for several 
reasons. The country was more accessible, than over the 
mountains by the Traders' or Indians' paths. The country in 
Pennsylvania, west of the Allegheny mountain, was not open 
to settlement and purchase, until 1769, the cession from the 
Indians being obtained by the Proprietaries the preceding year. 
Settlements had been made in North Carolina, by Irish and 
Scotch emigrants, as early as 1730, who had landed at Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, and some in Virginia, about the same 
time. The Kittochtinny valley, south of the Potomac, was 
attractive to settlers, as well as what was north of that river. 
The settlements in that portion of this valley, between the Sus- 
quehanna and Potomac rivers, were, as before stated, retarded 
to a considerable extent, until 1737, as the purchase of it, by 
the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, from the Indians, was only 
effected iu 1736, after which, the Land office was opened for 



114 

the sale of lands, in the established manner, and the controver- 
sy in relation to the Maryland boundary, was quieted by the 
Boyal order, the same year. 

The greater security in North Carolina, from Indian hostili- 
ties, induced some of the Pennsylvania Scotch Irish settlers, to 
emigrate to the neighborhood of friends, or relatives, resident 
in that southern State. Amongst those emigrating from the 
Kittochtinny valley, west of the Susquehanna, which had not 
then received the name of the Cumberland valley, was the 
father of the Kev. James Hall, D. D., of Treadwell county, 
North Carolina. Dr. Hall was of Scotch Irish parentage, and 
born in that valley in 1744, near where Carlisle was afterwards 
located. Eight years after, his father removed with his fam- 
ily, to North Carolina,. Dr. Hall, who graduated at Nassau 
Hall, Princeton, in 1774, became an eminent Presbyterian 
minister, and patriot, distinguished for talents, attainments, 
and usefulness. He gave his powers of mind, body and estate 
to the cause of his country. He not only officiated as chaplain 
in the army, but organized and commanded a military compa- 
ny for some time, in the Revolutionary war. To enable young 
men to acquire a knowledge of the sciences, who could not af- 
ford the expense of attending a northern college, he, like the 
elder Tennent in Pennsylvania, established at his own house, 
"an Academy of the Sciences," being himself the sole propri- 
etor, and for which he purchased a philosophical apparatus. 
A large number of eminent men received their scientific educa- 
tion there, besides a number of ministers who studied theology 
under his direction. His character for talents, piety, and 
public spirit, his soundness as a theologian, his great facility 
in imparting instruction, and his well selected library, caused 
his house to become a school of the prophets, from which came 
out some of the best ministers of southern Zion.* 

After the acknowledgement of National Independence, and 
permanent relations of peace being established with foreign 
countries, as well as with the Indian tribes, the inhabitants of 
Cumberland county resumed their industrial occupations in the 



* Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 330. 



115 

cultivation of their farms and the few who were mechanics, in 
their respective employments. The taste for rural life, was 
still the prevailing one, and the occupation preferred, was that 
of agriculture. In this entire valley, from the Susquehanna to 
the Maryland line, there were, after the close of the Kevolu- 
tionary war, but three villages, viz : Carlisle, Shippensburg 
and Chambersburg, containing severally, but a few hundred 
inhabitants. Franklin county, separated from Cumberland 
county in 1784,- had, within its entire boundary, but one town, 
Chambersburg, the place of holding the Courts and County 
OiBces. 

The inhabitants of Cumberland county, immediately after 
the Revolutionary war, showing their appreciation of a high 
grade for the education of young men in science, literature and 
theology, turned their attention to the establishment of a Col- 
lege, within their bounds. They did not wait to repair the 
losses and sacrifices, to which they had subjected themselves, 
by a military service, in distant places, during the protracted 
war for American Independence, before they would provide for 
elevated education. They were ready to act at once in the mat- 
ter, and this at a time when the government of the State, as well 
as that of the Confederation, was embarrassed with war debts, 
want of financial resources, and a confederation of independent 
States, that was deficient in effective provisions, and in strength 
was little better than a rope of sand. The people were also 
called on to meet heavy taxation, for local. State and .National 
purposes, with little or no currency of value, and with very 
limited resources. Yet, the spirit that animated with energy 
and resolution, the men who had encountered the wilderness, 
defended the frontiers of the colony against the savages and 
their French allies, and given themselves up to the defence of 
their country, against royal despotism and parliamentary usur- 
pation, induced them to give their energies and perseverance, 
recruited by a short period of peace, to provide for education, 
by an institution that would be worthy of public confidence and 
respect. Measures were taken to collect funds for it, and in 
1783, a charter was obtained from the Legislature, by which 



116 

the Institution was located at Carlisle, and called Dickinson 
College, in commemoration of John Dickinson, President of the 
Supreme Executive Council of the State, who had been liberal 
in his donation to it. The first faculty organized in 178 i, con- 
sisted of the Kev. Charles Nesbit, of Montrose, Scotland, as 
President ; James Ross, Professor of Languages, to which was 
added, the year following, P^ev. Robert Davidson, D. D., Pro- 
fessor of Belles Lettres, and Robert Johnston, Instructor of 
Mathematics. Under the auspices of this Faculty and Instruc- 
tors, who were eminently qualified by abilities and learning, 
and who adopted a high standard of education for their gradu- 
ates, the College prospered, and acquired a high reputation, 
that attracted to it many students, not only from Pennsylvania, 
but from other States. During the Presidency of Dr. Nesbit, 
there graduated many young men of celebrity, as lawyers, ju- 
rists and statesmen, in this and other States, and from the 
teachings of this College and the theological lectures of Dr. 
Nesbit to classes, preparatory to the ministry, there were giv- 
en to the Presbyterian Church, a number of ministers of dis- 
tinction for talents, acquirements, piety and usefulness. 

This Institution sustained a severe loss, in the death of Dr. 
Nesbit, in 1804. Dr. Davidson, Professor, and Pastor of the 
Presbyterian church in Carlisle, was his successor for four 
years, as President pro tern., when Dr. Atwater was appointed 
President. 

This Institution was founded, in a great measure, by the 
Scotch Irish Presbyterians of Cumberland, and neighboring 
counties in Pennsylvania, who, with the ministers of that 
Church, continued to foster and patronize it for many years, du- 
ring which, it was successful, and very useful, in giving to the 
country, many well educated men. It had not been endowed 
sufficiently, to sustain a faculty, with the high qualifications 
desired and demanded. Dr. Atwater, and a succession of other 
Presidents, resigned, after short terms, which was prejudicial 
to the interests of the Institution, as no one retained the Pres- 
idency long enough, after Dr. N^sbit, to give it a decided rep- 
utation. 



117 

Its first faculty were of Scotch nativity, or Irish descent, and 
Presbyterian in their religious creed, associations and worship. 
This predominance of Presbyterianisra, in the Principals and 
Professors, was continued, with a few exceptions, for a series of 
years. The majority of its Trustees belonged to the same de- 
nomination. Though the pervading character of this Institu- 
tion was Presbyterian, yet, it was not sectarian in its ruling 
influence. There was no influence exercised to make proselytes 
amongst its students, from the ranks of other denominations, 
and the Institution had the respect and confidence of the pub- 
lic, as long as there were abilities, learning and attention in its 
faculty, and efficiency in its government. The interest of ma- 
ny who had favored it abated, and efi"orts to sustain it, even 
by the Presbyterian Church, were relaxed, and for a number 
of years it continued to languish, with occasional temporary 
revivals, and spasmodic efibrts to regain, under a new Presi- 
dent, some of its former vigor and reputation. This was, in a 
great measure, attributed to the want of attention and inter- 
est, on the part of its Trustees, and to dissensions prevailing 
with that portion of them living in the vicinity, to whom, as is 
usual with literary and religious Institutions, its management 
was chiefly committed. The Trustees of Carlisle and its neigh- 
borhood, constituted its business board, for the manascement of 
most uf the concerns of the College ; and either discouraged by 
failures of measures adopted to sustain the College, or from un- 
happy dissensions amongst themselves, dividing them, chose to 
give away the Institution, with all its property, and corporate 
privileges; and then abandon their trust, by resignation, to 
make their donation efi"ective. There can be no reflection on 
our Methodist brethren, in being parties to the negotiation. 
This large donation was cast into their lap. They could not 
well decline it, when all the advantages were on their side. 
Their success was complete, and the Methodist Episcopal Church 
obtained the control of Dickinson College in 1833, which they 
have exercised ever since. They have treated it as an Institu- 
tion of their Church, by awakening an interest with their de- 
nomination, to endeavor to endow and sustain it. The zeal^ 



118 

abilities, and perseverance of its Trustees and Faculty, imme- 
diately imparted to it the vigor which it wanted, and made it 
extensively useful in diffusing education. 

What was the gain of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was 
the loss of the Presbyterian, whose members and ministers, had 
been the founders and patrons of this Institution, and who had 
given their money, as well as their time, labor and services, to 
its establishment and organization.* 

The Synod of Philadelphia, within whose bounds this College 
was, had not the vigilance, activity, and zeal, for the preserva- 
tion of its Institutions, in which men were to be educated for 
the ministry, that characterised that Synod in its early histo- 
ry, or it would not have closed its eyes to the usefulness of 
this Institution to the Church and State, slumbered over its 
decline, or have allowed it, with all its property, advantages, 
and privileges to be given away to any other religious denomi- 
nation, however respectable. 

It becomes this ecclesiastical body, and the Baltimore Synod, 
to make a vigorous effort to recover their lost ground, retrieve 
their supineness, and supply, for Presbyterian education and 
influence, an Institution in middle Pennsylvania, wherein young 
.men may receive a prepar?itory education, that may qualify 
them for the ministry, or learned professions, which induced 
the establishment in early times, when the country was new, 
of the Log and other Colleges, by Presbyterian ministers, and 
the members of ihe Presbyterian Church. 

There are amongst the descendants of the Scotch Irish set- 
tlers, at this time, within the bounds of these Synods, four fold 
the means and resources, which their ancestors had when they 
established colleges which have contributed much to elevate 
and extend education. The number of Presbyterian churches 
in the Cumberland valley, including Path valley, when Dickin- 
son College was established, was sixteen; the number at this 



* The writer acknowledges himpelf as «ne of the remote and delinquent Trustees 
ref* rred to, and though not one of the board that made the transfer, to w hich measure 
he had made known his opposition, and in execution of it, he did not resign ; yet, he 
does not exculpate himself on account of absence, as it was his duty to have been 
present, and oppose the measure, with what influence he might possess, if advised of 
the intended action, and was able to attend. 



119 

time, within the same bounds, is over thirty. Though the 
Presbyterian worshippers, have, in some of the rural congrega- 
tions, in the Cumberland valley, diminished, by reason of the 
removal of the members west, or to other residences, yet this 
has been much more than supplied, by new and additional 
Presbyterian churches, in the towns and villages of the same 
valley. Such an Institution, established west of the Susque- 
hanna, in middle Pennsylvania, would be incalculably useful, 
without interfering with, or prejudicing kindred Institutions, 
of like character, on the eastern or western borders of our 
great State. 



CHAPTER V. 

Instrumentality of the Scotch Irish schools and seyninaries in 
Pennsylvania in the education of young men for useful- 
ness in other Colonies — In Virginia: Robinson, Davies, 
Wadd ell, the Messrs. Syniths — In North Carolina: Mc- 
Aden, Caldicell — New Jersey : Establishment of Nassau 
Hall, Princeton — Maryland : Baltimore church organiza- 
tion — F. Allison. 

It is difficult to measure, or estimate the advantages to society 
and the country, from the establishment of the academies and 
schools of the Tennents, Blairs, Finley, Smith, and Allison, in 
eastern Pennsylvania, during the early part of the eighteenth 
century. Many young men were enabled to obtain within 
those schools, an education on teims, and in a manner not to 
be procured any where else in the middle colonies ; and who, 
without such facilities, must have been withheld from the intel- 
lectual education they desired, and which was necessary to 
elevate them to stations of distinction and public usefulness. 

Young men of good and studious habits, with abilities of an 
high order and respectability, sought these seminaries, and in 
the plain buildings appropriated to education, under the teach- 
ing and direction of these eminent and faithful instructors, 
acquired an amount of knowledge, that deservedly gave them 



120 

the reputation of scholars, in classical literature, and mathe- 
matical proficiency : whilst those, pursuing their theological 
studies, preparatory to the ministry, testified, by their attain- 
ments, success and eminent usefulness, that their labors had 
been well directed, and improved, not only to their advantage 
as candidates, but to that of extending religious influence, as 
well as moral and intellectual education. 

From the Log College of the Tennents, first emanated men, 
some of whom, were to be shining lights of the age, in the 
Gospel ministry, and who devoted their talents and attain- 
ments, in proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oth- 
ers, combined with the ministry, the office of teacher, in Semi- 
naries established, in other localities, after the model of the 
original Log College. 

The influence of these seminaries, established, conducted, 
and maintained in the early history of the Province, by the 
Scotch Irish Presbyterian ministers, was of inestimable useful- 
ness to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. They gave to the 
rapidly increasing communities, made up of Irish and Scotch 
emigrants, an educated, zealous and pious ministry, sound in 
the faith, and a church organization by Presbyters, that was to 
the desire and acceptance of the great mass of the people. In 
the same schools, the young men of Pennsylvania, and of some 
other colonies, received a classical and scientific education, 
that prepared some for high places in the medical profession, 
whilst others were educated there, preparatory to the study of 
the law, and acquired, deservedly, the reputation and places of 
jurists, lawyers and statesmen. 

From these fountains ol education, issued streams of knowl- 
edge that flowed beyond the bonds of Pennsylvania, into other 
colonies. Young men of talents, learning and piety, from 
these schools, were the instruments, in the hands of Divine 
Providence, of carrying to the destitute districts of neighbor- 
ing and distant colonies, the means and facilities of improved 
education, and a pious and evangelical ministry. Amongst these 
instruments of early missionary labor, was the Pev. Wm. Rob- 
inson, who was sent as an evangelist, by the Presbytery of New 



121 

Castle, in the winter of 1742 — 3, in consequence of the earnest 
solicitations of the people, to visit the Presbyterian settlements 
in the valley of the Shenandoah, and some parts of Virginia, 
then destitute of a ministry. He entered on his mission with 
zeal and perseverance, and though incommoded and obstructed 
on entering Virginia by intolerance, and arrest, for preaching 
without a license from the Governor, he was permitted to pro- 
-ceed to North Carolina ; and on his return, preached in Hano- 
ver county, Virginia, the first sermon heard there from a Pres- 
byterian minister. He continued preaching four days, suc- 
cessively, to large and increasing audiences, with a power, and 
success, in awakening the careless, instructing the ignorant, 
that was wonderful and unprecedented, and with impressions 
that were lasting and permanent, and to the conversion of 
many. His engagements, elsewhere, to visit the destitute dis- 
tricts in Virginia, soliciting the preaching of the Gospel, by a 
minister of sound and practical piety, took him from Hanover. 
The audiences that had heard his discourses there, with so 
much interest and profit, proposed to remunerate him for his 
services, which he declined. The money raised, was, without 
his knowledge, put into his saddle-bags, by the gentleman at 
whose house he lodged. When he afterwards discovered it, he 
refused to appropriate it to his own use, though his means were 
■small, and applied it to aid Samuel Davies, then a student at 
Pagg's Manor, Pennsylvania, pursuing his studies under the 
<5are of the Eev. Samuel Blair, for the ministry. By an in- 
scrutable Providence, whose ways are those of infinite wisdom, 
and past the finding out of short-sighted men, Mr. Robinson, 
this eminent and faithful steward of his Lord and Master, was 
removed from his labors on earth, in April, 1746. He was a 
martyr, it was believed, to the laborshe voluntarily endured for 
the cause of Christ, in Virginia and North Carolina. He be- 
queathed his library to his young fiiend, protege and fellow- 
laborer, the Rev. Samuel Davies, on whom his mantle may be 
supposed to have fallen.* 

Next in order of time, we may name the Rev. Samuel Da- 
vies, alluded to. He was of Welsh descent, and born in New 

• Foote's Sketches of Virginia. 



122 

Castle county, Delaware, then Pennsylvania. Having been 
licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1745, he visited 
Virginia, and located himself permanently there in 1748, in 
the county of Hanover, where his friend, the Rev. Mr. Robin- 
son, had, as a pioneer, assisted in opening the way for Gospel 
instruction and ordinances, some years before. Mr. Davies, in 
eloquence, piety, and learning, had no superior, was called "the 
prince of preachers," and acquired a greater influence, than 
any other preacher in Virginia ever possessed. From this 
field of labor and usefulness. Mr. Davies was withdrawn, by 
his election to the Presidency of the College of New Jersey, in 
1759, where he continued until his death in 1761, at the age 
of thirty-seven. 

James Waddell, distinguished in Virginia history and litera- 
ture as a scholar and orator, eminent for eloquence and piety, 
was brought, in 1739, from Ireland, an infant in the arms of 
his mother, to Pennsylvania, selected by his parents as their 
place of abode. Having been disabled in the use of his hand, 
by an accidental blow from an axe in the hand of a brother, 
his parents, in consequence of this disability, were induced to 
seek for him a liberal education, for which, his powers of mind 
were admirably adapted. His progress at the "Log College" 
of Dr. Finley, at Nottingham, was rapid. His attainments in 
the Greek and Latin studies, were of so high an order, as to 
occasion his promotion, when a youth, to the office of Tutor, in 
the Nottingham academy, as well as in that of Rev. Robert 
Smith, of Pequea, of Lancaster county. Having acquired 
Great proficiency in his studies, at the age of nineteen he re- 
moved from Pennsylvania southward, and on his way, formed 
the acquaintance of the Rev. Samuel Davies, in Virginia, 
where he was induced to remain, taking charge of a classical 
school of Louisa, and commenced the studies, preparatory for 
the sacred ministry in Virginia, which, thenceforth, became his 
home. In 1761, he was licensed by the Presbytery, and in the 
same year, several calls were put into his hands from vacant 
churches in Virginia, and also one from the neighborhood of 
York, Pennsylvania, and of the many promising fields of labor, 



123 

as a minister, presented to liim, he made choice of the lower 
part of the great northern neck in Virginia, between the rivers 
Potomac and Rappahannoc. His interesting, useful, and suc- 
cessful labors, as a minister, in the northern neck, were ended 
in the early part of the Revolutionary war, by his removal to 
to the valley of the Shenandoah in 1778, occasioned by the em- 
igration of leading persons in his congregations, to the moun- 
tainous regions, and his in-paired health, from bihous attacks, 
in the northern neck. The call of General Green, for aid to 
resist Cornwallis, in his invasion, was responded to promptly 
by the Scotch Irish members of Mr. Waddell's pastoral charge, 
who, before their departure for the camp, met them in arms, 
and preached to them a pastor's farewell, which, to many, were 
the last words they ever heard from the lips of their revered 
pastor. 

Mr. Waddell's great affliction, was an incurable blindness. 
Though blind, he was devoted to books ; his wife and children 
spending hours daily in reading to him. Owing to this, his pow- 
ers of mind were not impaired by his loss of sight, and he re- 
tained his usual flow of spirits, which often arose to hilarity. 
He never declaimed in the pulpit, but prepared his exercises 
for that place with study. 

The graphic description, by the eminent and eloquent Wirt, 
of Waddell, the blind preacher, is indelibly impressed on the 
pages of Virginia history. It has been compared to the poems 
of Homer, which immortalized the writer as well as his hero. 
Mr. Wi-.ddell died in 1805, with great Christian serenity, uni- 
versally beloved, and his body was carried to the grave by 
his servants, who performed this last service with reverence 
and grief. 

Virginia was also indebted to the same schools, for the dis- 
tinguished and learned Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, and Rev. 
John Blair Smith, D. D., brothers, of Irish descent, born and 
educated at the Log academy of their father Robert Smith, D. 
D., in the county of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and graduates of 
the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. The Rev. S. 
S. Smith, having been licensed by the New Castle Presbytery, 



124 

visited, in 1771, Virginia, as a missionary, wlien lie at once saw 
the necessity for a literary institution in Virginia, and aided and 
encouraged the eflforts of Hanover Presbytery to call it into be- 
ing. He became the projector and founder of Hampden Sydney 
College in that colony. Notwithstanding the exciting times of 
the Eevolutiou, in 1775, Mr. Smith, with the aid of this Pres- 
bytery, proceeded to collect funds for the establishment of the 
projected literary institution. " The Presbytery, it is stated, 
proceeded to take steps to have Mr. Smith settled as a preacher 
as well as a teacher, according to the spirit of the ' Log Col- 
lege, in Pennsylvania, which had been so rich in blessings on 
Virginia." Mr. Smith was chosen Rector oi the infant institu- 
tion, then called the academy of Prince Edward, and shortly 
after of Hampden and Sydney College, and also installed pas- 
tor of the united congregations of Cumberland and Prince Ed- 
ward. Amongst the Trustees selected for this humble institution 
of Presbyterian origin, and Scotch Irish affinities, Avere James 
Madison, Jr., afterwards Chief Magistrate of the United States, 
and Patrick Henry, the distinguished orator, and Governor of 
Virginia. 

The College was organized by the appointment of Mr. John 
B. Smith, brother of the principal, as first assistant, and Mr. 
Samuel Doak, as second assistant. From the increase of stu- 
dents, beyond expectation, Mr. David Witherspoon was appoint- 
ed third assistant. Hampden Sydney went on prosperously, 
increasing in reputation and usefulness, having one hundred and 
ten students the first summer, notwithstanding the Revolution- 
ary contest. 

The terms of this academy, when opened in 1776, were £8 
for board ; and for washing and bed, £3 per year. So great 
was the desire of the youth of the Scotch Irish race of Virginia 
to avail themselves of the advantages to be enjoyed in educar 
tion, under the teachings of the Messrs. Smith, a.t their log col- 
lege, that there was a scarcity of apartments for their accom- 
modation, and whilst the new academy building was in rapid 
progress, many of the students erected small temporary huts, 
with the shingles prepared for the academy. • In these they 



125 

were packed close, and with a plank for three or four boys to 
sit upon, they dilligently pursued their studies till a late 
hour of the night. From the difficulty of obtaining board and 
lodging for the numbers that thronged for admission, Messrs. 
N. Venable and P. Carrington, public men of eminence, honor- 
ed for their patriotism and religion, built houses for their sons 
to occupy. 

The Messrs. Smith from Pennsylvania, with the aid of the 
friends of liberty and religious and moral education in Virginia, 
in Revolutionary times, surmounted obstacles that would now 
be deemed appalling, and excited an enthusiasm seldom equalled, 
to establish in that State a Seminary of learning for the higher 
branches of education, after the model of the unpretendiug, but 
useful log colleges of Pennsylvania. 

In 1779, the Rev. Samuel S. Smith, having- had an invitation 
from the Trustees of New Jersey College, to accept the office of 
Professor of Moral Philosophy in that Institution, with the ap- 
probation of the Presbytery, accepted, and shortly after was 
made president of the same Institution. His brother, the Rev. 
John Blair Smith, was appointed his successor of Hampden Sid- 
ney, under whose Presidency, this College, on the model of the 
Log College of Pennsylvania, prospered both in its theological 
and literary department, in a manner never surpassed in suc- 
ceeding years. The President having also accepted the call of 
the churches of Cumberland and Briery, united the offices of 
Pastor with the Presidency of College and the Professor of The- 
ology, embracing work for three men, and giving a Christian 
spirit to the efforts for the education of youth. With him, men 
of the greatest probity and of the highest public estimation and 
private worth, were associated in the direction of this Seminary, 
"where the purest sentiments of religion and patriotism, were 
inculcated in a most efficient manner." 

" President Smith's preaching," says Dr. Hill, ''was of the 
most animating, pungent, practical character, feeling close for 
the conscience, and applying truth home to the. heart." 

Dr. Hoge, who was President of the same College, in speak- 
ing of Dr. J. B. Smith, said: "A preacher possessing every 



126 

ministerial qualification in a degree so eminent, I have never 
known ; nor do I ever expect again to hear a preacher whose 
discourses will be equally calculated for the learned and un- 
learned, the rich and the poor, the devout Christian and the 
abandoned profligate ; in a word, every character and descrip- 
tion of men. Methinks I still see him stand the accredited am- 
bassador of the great King of kings, and Lord of lords, while 
every feature and every muscle of his face, every word and ac- 
tion, as well as the lightning of his eyes, seem to bespeak a soul 
on fire."'* 

The Declaration of American Independence, by the Congress 
of the Colonies, m 1776, animated the citizens, young and old, 
of Virginia, as it did their kinsmen in Pennsylvania, and many 
offered themselves as soldiers to redeem the pledge "oi their for- 
tunes and sacred honor" in the maintenance of that Indepen- 
dence. " Engaged, as the students were, in Hampden Sidney 
College, in the pursuit of their studies, their hearts were warm 
on the side of American liberty, and with the arts and sciences, 
they exercised in military training, and in the rudiments of war. 
The Kev. John Blair Smith, the first assistant of this Institu- 
tion, and afterwards its President, was chosen Captain of a com- 
pany of students, about sixty-five in number, over seventeen 
years of age. Mr. D. Witherspoon, second assistant, their 
Lieutenant, and Mr. S. Venable, their Ensign. The students 
were uniformed, viz : a hunting shirt d}'ed purple, and every 
student, although under sixteen years of age, was mustered ev- 
ery month." 

In 1777 there was a requisition from the Governor, for a 
company of militia from Prince Edward county to oppose an 
expected invasion from the British, All the students of this 
College, above sixteen years of age, with the advice of their 
President, the Kev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, exchanged their 
numbers for No. 1, with the militia of the county, and marched 
•to Williamsburg, under their officers, to obey the Governor's 
orders. 

After the battle of the Cowpens in 1781, the excitement in 
the southern country was great, when Morgan and Green 

*Dr. Foote'9 8ketche9 of Virginia. 



127 

were retreating before the superior army of Cornwallis, Cap- 
tain Morton, having in two days, raised a company of his neigh- 
bors to join Green. Tlie Rev. John Blair Smith, then Presi- 
dent of Hampden Sidney College, set out at once to join the 
company of Captain Morton, which he overtook in Halifax. 
The Captain earnestly entreated him to return to Prince Ed- 
ward, that he could serve the cause more at home, by his ex- 
citing patriotic speeches, than by his presence in camp. Worn 
out by fatigue, the President returned to the College. " Peter 
Johnson, about sixteen years of age, the son of the donor of the 
land on which the College was built, offered himself, and was 
rejected as under age and under size. He nevertheless procur- 
ed a horse, and offered himself to Lee, and was with some hes- 
itation, received. He served during that momentous campaign, 
with great honor, taking a part in several actions, beside the de- 
cisive one of Guilford Court House. He was, in after life, a 
Judge of eminence in his native State."* 

The College suflPered from the calamities of a protracted war, 
which, with its desolation and alarms, was carried into its very 
neighborhood, and students, in defence of the liberties of their 
country, gave up their books for war implements, and from their 
school rooms repaired to the ranks of the Pi,evolutionary army. 
" When the war was over, the College was in a depressed state. 
The enthusiasm for education was somewhat abated among the 
people at large, objects of ambition and speculation, and there- 
pair of broken fortunes and ruined estates, engrossed the great 
body of the people. They were still patriots to appreciate the 
immeasurable importance of the universal dissemination of 
knowledge, pure morality and religion, for the preservation of 
the political liberty and its advantages, acquired by the arms 
of freemen." The friends of Hampden Sidney, after the war, 
applied for, and obtained from the Legislature in 1783, a char- 
ter for the Academy under the name of a College, with its priv- 
ileges and powers. Dr. Hill says, "that after the capture of 
Cornwallis and his army, the students returned to College, and 
Dr. Smith entered de novo, upon his various and responsible 
duties. The number of students continued to increase, until 

^ *Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, 403. 



thi© rooms in the College were as full as they well could coa- 
tain." 

In 1789, Mr. Smith resigned the Presidency of the College^ 
and gave himself entirely to the work of the ministry.* 

For men of great magnitude and brightness to illumine the 
darkness of her colonial destitution, Virginia was greatly in- 
debted to the Scotch Irish race of Pennsylvania, and the semi- 
naries, under the care and teachings of their Presbyterian min- 
isters, men of the same origin, or descent, being born or receiv- 
ing their early education in Pennsylvania, which was afterwards 
pursued at the College of New Jersey, to the procurement of a 
Degree. This was followed by theological studies for the min- 
istry, which obtained for them the license of a. Presbytery, un- 
der whose care they were, and became missionaries to the 
south. Some of them were instrumental, with others, in estab- 
lishing, in Virginia, a Seminary of learning, which afterwards 
became Washington College, at Lexington. 

North Carolina, as an American colony, was early debtor to 
the Scotch Irish of Pennsylvania, for supplies by an elevated 
and pious ministry, to their destitute Presbyterian congrega- 
tions, made up chiefly of emigrants from Ireland and Scotland, 
directly, and others from the same countries, after a residence, 
for a time, in Virginia or Pennsylvania. From the same source 
was received their pioneers in the establishment of classical and 
scientific schools, for the education of the young men of the 
colony in the higher branches of knowledge. 

Among the first, was the Rev. Hugh McAden, born in Penn- 
sylvania, of Irish descent, a graduate of Nassau Hall, receiving 
his instruction in theology under the direction of the Rev. John 
Blair. He was licensed by the New Castle Presbytery, 1755, 
in which year, as a missionary, he visited the Presbyterian set- 
tlements of North Carolina, and preached to many congrega- 
tions, the first sermon they had heard in the colony. In 1759, 
being ordained, he accepted a pastoral charge in North Caroli- 
na, and labored faithfully and acceptably for many years, till 
his deatli. 



* Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, 406. 



129 

He was followed in a few years by the eminent and learned 
Eev. David Caldwell, D. D., who combined in himself the sound 
and pious minister of the Gospel, with the profound, accomplish- 
ed and successful instructor of young men. He was born in 
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1725, and pursued his pre- 
paratory course of studies under the tuition of the Eev. Robert 
Smith, of Pequea, in that county, distinguished for his useful- 
ness, and as the father of sons, educated under his care, who 
were at the same time Presidents of the Colleges of New Jer- 
sey and Hampden Sidney. Mr. Caldwell graduated at Prince- 
ton in 1761, where he engaged for a time as a Tutor and in the 
study of theology. Being licensed and ordained by the Pres- 
bytery of New Brunswick, he became a missionary to some va- 
cant congregations in North Carolina, that had solicited sup- 
plies from the Synod of Philadelphia. In some of these congre- 
gations were acquaintances and friends, who, a few years before 
had removed into that colony. In 1768 he accepted a pastoral 
charge there and commenced a classical school, where he con^ 
tinned until the infirmities of age disqualified him as teacher. 
This school was the second classical school of permanence, and 
perhaps the first in usefulness in the upper part of Carolina. 
The instruction in this school, was thorough, and it flourished, 
being instrumental during the long period of its continuance, in 
bringing more men into the learned professions, than any other 
taught by a single individual, or by a succession of teachers, 
during the same period of time. Five of his scholars became 
Governors of States, a number were promoted to high places in 
the Judiciary ; about fifty became ministers of the Gospel, and 
a large number were physicians and lawyers. He was of the 
most studious habits, his thoughts always exalted to the true 
dignity of his work ; and where led by convictions of duty, and 
a desire to be useful, he was untiring in labor, persevering and 
inflexible from his purpose. Most, if not all of his students, re- 
ceived their entire classical education from him, so that for a 
time, his school was Academy, College and Theological Semin- 
ary.* 

* It is a gratification to us, and the more so as it is rare in these days, to find a de- 

9 



130 

■"Living in the exciting times of the Revolution, with the 
royal army at his door, he was an ardent whig. So great was 
his influence, on the side of American Independence, that he 
became obnoxious to Lord Cornwallis and his officers. Dr. 
Caldwell's residence was but a few miles from Guilford Court 
House, and his congregations were harrassed by the plunder- 
ings, and cruelties of the needy and irritated army of Cornwal-' 
lis, which were endured by a patriotic people with a constancy 
and bravery to be admired and held in grateful remembrance. 
The house of this eminent patriot and minister of the Gospel, 
on the Sabbath was plundered, his wife and children turned 
out of doors, his property stolen, his library and valuable pa- 
pers burned by the royal array. A purse of £200 was set, by 
his Lordship, on the Doctor's head, to any one w^ho would bring 
him in a prisoner. But the camp of General Green saved him 
from the ferocious enemy. 

The useful life of Dr. Caldwell was prolonged by Providence, 
till August 1824, when he departed this life at the age of nine- 
ty-nine years. His pastoral services were continued until 1820, 
his ninety-fourth year, he requiring assistance from weakness, on 
his return home, to dismount from his horse and to be carried in to 
his house." 

Others might be named of Scotch Irish nativity, in Pennsyl- 
vania, who, after receiving an education in her Log Colleges, 
which was afterwards extended at Nassau Hall, Princeton, were 
missionaries of education as well as of the Gospel, to the Scotch 
Irish settlements of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, 
where their labors were blessed with extensive usefulness. 

New Jersey was indebted chiefly to the founders and patrons 
of the Log Colleges of eastern Pennsylvania, for the establish- 
ment of the College of Nassau Hall at Princeton, in the infancy 
of that colony, which did more to distinguish and benefit 
it than any other Institution ever created within its bounds. 
It was of Scotch Irish origin, and was nursed and fostered into 



scendantof the Puritans, as the Rev. W. Henry Foote in his Sketches of North Carolina 
and Virginia, exhibit a spirit of liberality and justice to the Scotch Irish race, who form 
a large portion of the population of those States, and who for intelligence, integrity, pa- 
triotism and religious character, have received as they deserved, high commendation. 



131 

great usefulness and celebrity by the men of Irisb and Scotch 
nativity or descent in Pennsylvania. Though in Maryland 
Presbyterian congregations had been formed on the Eastern 
Shore, as well as in Baltimore county, in the early part of the 
eighteenth century, yet they were small, and languished as the 
influx of emigrants of that denomination would seem to have 
preferred other colonies for their settlements. Settlers or citi- 
zens of enterprise were attracted from the counties of Cumber- 
land and Lancaster, Pensylvania, in 1760, to Baltimore town, 
then containing thirty or forty houses and about three hundred 
inhabitants. These emigrants were Presbyterians of Irish or 
Scotch descent ; they organized themselves into a congregation 
and invited the Eev. Patrick Allison, as before briefly noticed, 
as a supply for one year. Mr. Allison was a native of Lancas- 
ter county, Pennsylvania, the son of Irish Parents, and received 
his classical and preparatory education at the Philadelphia 
Academy, where he was engaged for some time as an assistant 
teacher . 

Mr. Allison accepted the charge and in 1765 was fully or- 
dained to the pastoral office, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. 
Mr. Allison was a man of learning and piety. The matter of 
his sermons was rich and instructive, and his style clear and 
nervous. He was especially distinguished in the Church courts, 
and Dr. Miller has said of him, that in debate he had scarce an 
equal. He died in 1802, having served this congregation near- 
ly forty years. This congregation, from a little handful that 
organized it and called Mr. Allison during his ministry, became 
one of the largest and most influential in the country. Mr. Al- 
lison was also prominent in every efi'ort, in his day, to promote 
morality, education and liberty in Maryland. 



132 



CHAPTEK VI. 

South Western Pennsylvania — Its early settlements — Contro>- 
versy with Virginia as to boundary — Purchase by Propri- 
etary of Indian claim 1768 — Open to appropriation by 
Pennsylvania grants after 1769 — Influx of settlers restrain- 
ed by apprehension of Indian hostilities and war of Rev- 
olution — Boundary with Virginia settled by compact — 
■ Rapid progress after the Revolution — Missionaries — Su- 
pervision of Philadelphia and New York Synod — Messrs.. 
Power, McMillan, Smith, Pod and others — Toil and sac- 
rifices — Success in organization of Presbyterian congrega- 
tions — Redstone Presbytery — Seminaries of learning — Pub- 
lic men: St. Clair, Brackenridge, Ross, Addison, Galla- 
tin, Findlay — Western insurrections — Peace and order — 
Literary and Theological institutions — Improvements and 
increase of population — Extent of district — Religion and 
7norals of people. 

The great district of Pennsylvania, for the development of the- 
Scotch Irish character in its energies, enterprise, religious and 
moral principles, as well as its educational tendencies and use- 
fulness, was southwestern Pennsylvania. 

The first settlements by the whites in Pennsylvania, west of 
the Allegheny mountains, on lands bordering on the Ohio, Mo- 
nongahela, Youghiogeny and Allegheny rivers and their tribu- 
taries, were shortly before, and after Braddock's defeat in 1755, 
These were chiefly under grants or permits from the Governor 
or authorities of the colony of Virginia, which claimed the 
country on these waters, embracing the locality of Pittsburg, 
then called Fort Duquesne, occupied by a French garrison. 
Some emigrants from Maryland had also settled in the same 
country. 

Those who settled in that attractive and fertile district under 
a claim of Pennsylvania jurisdiction, before 1769, did so in coa- 



133 

travention of public law, as those lands had not been purchased 
by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, from the Indians, until by 
the treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1768, and were not open to pur- 
chase, settlement or appropriation, under the laws of Pennsyl- 
vania, until after that purchase. 

Yet there were adventurous and restless spirits from Penn- 
sylvania, and elsewhere, east of the Allegheny mountain, who, 
contrary to law and in defiance of the Proclamation of the Gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania, and public magistrates, presumed to 
make settlements to a limited extent in this western country, 
likely to be overrun by settlers claiming under Virginia. By 
that colony and its authorities, the Indian claim was not re- 
garded, and their laws allowed the grants to individuals, of land 
in quantities as desired, and at prices less than one tenth of 
that fixed by the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, as the price of 
vacant land within his province. 

These settlements were in 1768, and shortly before, the sub- 
ject of complaints by the western Indians, both to the Proprie- 
tary of Pennsylvania, as well as the Provincial government of 
that colony. A law of excessive severity was passed by its Leg- 
islature in 1768, subjecting to capital punishment, the offence 
of a settlement on lands unpurchased by the Proprietary, from 
the Indian claimants. The Governor of Pennsylvania, in Feb- 
ruary 1768, issued a Proclamation requiring settlers to remove 
from these lands, informing them of the penalties to which they 
were subject, and appointed the Eev. John Steele and others, of 
Cumberland county, commissioners on behalf of the Govern- 
ment and Proprietary, to visit the settlements ; carry with them 
and distribute the Proclamation ; require the settlers to remove, 
and warn them of the consequences, if they did not, to them- 
selves, from the Governor's prosecution and Indian hostilities. 
The commissioners proceeded at once to visit these settlements, for 
the purpose required, and in April, 1768, reported to the Governor 
that there were but about one hundred and fifty families on the dif- 
ferent settlements on Eedstone, Youghiogeny and Cheat rivers, 
which they visited and in which they made known the law 
and requisitions of the government, but to little purpose as re- 



134 

spected the removal of the settlers, who generally were inclin- 
ed to take their chances of hostilities from the Indians with 
whom the Proprietary agents were understood to be then ne- 
gotiating for the purchase of their claim to the lands on those 
waters. The requisitions of the Governor and the penalties of 
the law seem to have had but little regard in the consideration 
of the settlers. The excessive severity of the law rendered it 
inoperative. No one supposed that the Government, or any 
authority under it, would attempt to carry into execution a law 
subjecting to the punishment of death a settler, for the offence 
of putting up a cabin for the residence of his family, and clear- 
ing and cultivating some fertile land as the means of supporting 
that family in an extensive wilderness, because an Indian tribe 
of hunters, living in their wigwams at a distance of one hundred 
miles or more, made claim to half the Province for their hunt- 
ing ground until they received some remuneration for their re- 
lease. They did not consider their offense as mala in se, but 
prohibited from considerations of public policy, on which public 
sentiment was divided. The Governor of Virginia had by proc- 
la:mation, at the same time, required the removal of settlers un- 
der Virginia claims from the disputed territory, but with no 
better success. 

The settlers in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt, by the permis- 
sion of George Croghan. superintendent of Indian affairs, and 
those who had settled on the main roads leading across the 
mountains to Fort Pitt, by permits from the commanders and 
other officers of the army, for the convenience of the army, its 
reinforcements and supplies, were exempt from the penalties of 
the law and the requisitions of the Public magistrates. 

The Indian claim being removed by the purchase of the Pro- 
prietary, at Fort Stanwix, Nov. 5, 1768, these lands were open, 
to settlement, grants or appropriations under Pennsylvania, 
which now progressed more rapidly, though obstructed by in- 
terference of settlers under Virginia, and the uncertainty of ti- 
tle in this conflict of jurisdiction between the two colonies. The* 
settlements, however, were extended in a country attractive for 
fertility of soil, with all the advantages of climate, water andi 



135 

timber. Emigrants from tlie east side of the mountains could 
only reacli it by a long journey over lofty mountains, by rugged 
roads scarcelj/ passable for any wheel carriage, conveying their 
families on pack horses, with their supplies of clothing and bed- 
ding. Yet before the Eevolution, and pending that war, many 
families of substance, intelligence, religious and moral charac- 
ter, overcame obstacles which would seem insurmountable, in 
making their way to an abode on the choice lands of south 
western Pennsylvania. "When these adventurous and resolute 
emigrants got to the end of their journey, it was to settle in the 
wilderness with a log cabin for their dwelling ; neighbors few 
and far between ; separated from eastern friends and relatives 
by mountain ranges, a barrier to an interchange of visits, ex- 
cept at great intervals ; without the comforts and conveniences 
enjoyed by eastern friends, and remote from all seminaries of 
education, and where the worship of their heavenly Father by 
an assembled congregation was in the open air, with the firma- 
ment for a canopy and for their seats the bare earth or the 
rough logs of the forest. 

These settlements during the Revolutionary war and for 
years after, were exposed to the hostilities of the Indians, who 
frequently, by their stealthy marches, surprised and alarmed 
the inhabitants, often marking their way by fire and the mas- 
sacre of families. The conflict of j urisdiction between the two 
States, in the exercise of the powers of government, obstructed 
the administration of justice, incommoded the inhabitants and 
led to contests and arrests between the officers of these border 
States that were harrassing to both. 

In 1779, the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, agreed to 
terminate this unprofitable controversy by an extension of the 
Mason and Dixon line west, as a boundary, saving to all persons 
previously acquired rights under the laws and usages of these 
States, according to priority, which was executed and ratified. 
By the boundary provided for and established, the large dis- 
trict of fine country in dispute between Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania, was permanently assigned to Pennsylvania as her terri- 
tory. 



136 

The early settlers, who had settled within this district, un- 
der either of these governments, were with few exceptions of 
Scotch and Irish nativity or descent. Havins; a common ori- 
gin find associations, they were much alike in principles and 
habits, agreeing in their religious professions and doctrines, de- 
voted to the principles of the Protestant reformation, choosing 
and maintaining the Presbyterian church organization, as that 
most approved by them. Amongst these Presbyterians there 
were some slight shades of difference to separate them, chiefly 
on Psalmody, which led to the organization of separate and dis- 
tinct ecclesiastical judicatories that are yet maintained, though 
agreeing in having a common standard of doctrine and creed, 
as well as of church government, contained in the Westmin- 
ster Confession of Faith, with its Church rules and Catechisms. 

The Synod of Philadelphia and New York did not overlook 
the settlers who had taken up their abode in the wilderness, 
west of the Allegheny, and at an early day provision was made 
by them to have these distant settlements on the frontiers sup- 
plied with suitable and qualified missionaries licensed and or- 
dained by the Presbytery to the work of the ministry. In 1766 
the Eev. Charles Beaty, of Irish nativity, who had obtained his 
classical education in Ireland before his emigration, pursued 
his studies with a view to the Gospel ministry, at the Log Col- 
lege at Neshaminy, then under the care of the celebrated Wm. 
Tennent, and was licensed by the Presbytery of New Bruns- 
wick. He was associated with Rev. G. Duffield, a minister of 
high reputation and experience, to visit the frontier settlement 
of the far west region, as well as the Indians, as missionaries 
by the appointment of the Synod. 

These appointments were continued by this Synod from time 
to time through a series of twenty years, to supply the destitute 
brethren on the south western frontier of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia, with missionaries not only accredited, but of a high 
order for talents, learning, piety and experience in the minis- 
try. Their labors in preaching, catechising and administering 
the ordinances of the Church, were blessed in organizing con- 
gregations amongst the settlers for the maintenance of Christian 



137 

worship and religious instruction, training and government. 
Messrs. Beaty and Duffield, owing to the apprehension of In- 
dian disturbances, were enabled only to visit some of the settle- 
ments, and the missions were afterwards renewed, extended and 
fulfilled by the labors of Kev. James Finley and others, under 
the appointments of the Presbyteries of New Castle and Done- 
gal. 

The first ordained minister, that settled with his family, in 
Western Pennsylvania, was the Eev. James Power, D. D. He 
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, the child of pious 
parents, who had emigrated from the north of Ireland. His 
education, preparatory to entering College, is believed to have 
been at Fagg's manor school, of that county, under the care of 
the eminent He v. John Blair. He graduated at Nassau Hall, 
Princeton, in 176G, and was licensed by the Presbytery of New 
Castle in 1772. He labored for several years as a missionary, 
in the western settlements, as well as in Virginia. In the 
summer of 1776, in the exciting times of the Kevolution, and 
when the country was most agitated with the question of Inde- 
pendence, Mr. Power decided upon going west with his family, 
and he was ordained for that purpose at Octararo, Lancaster 
county. In the autumn of that year, he removed with his fam- 
ily, and took up his residence within the bounds of Dunlap's creek 
congregation, which is in the county of Fayette. Mr. Power 
labored, after his removal to the west, to supply the destitute 
churches, over an extensive district, though he resided at Dun- 
lap's creek, the principle place of his labors, and not until 
1779, he became the regular pastor of Sewickly and Mount 
Pleasant congregations. He lived to the age of eighty-five, 
greatly venerated and beloved for his piety, fidelity and useful- 
ness. "He was a graceful speaker, and of polished manners. 
His sermons were clear, methodical and expressive in language 
well selected. His enunciation was so perfect, that when he 
spoke in the open air, as he frequently did, he could be heard 
at a great distance. His ministry was successful in edifying 
Christians, instructing the young and improving the morals of 
the community." Such was the man of Irish parentage, edu- 



138 

cated in the schools of the Scotch Irish ministers, that turned 
his back on the comforts of more refined society, and this 
world's enjoyments and emoluments, in the older settlements, 
east of the mountains, and became the first settled minister 
within the bounds of the old Redstone Presbytery. 

The great pioneer of evangelical and practical religion, as 
well as of improved education in western Pennsylvania, was 
the Rev. John McMillan, D. D., born in Fagg's manor, Ches- 
ter county, Pennsylvania, in 1752, the child of Irish parents. 
His classical education was acquired at his native place, in the 
academy under the care and direction of the Rev. John Blair, 
distinguished for talents and learning, as well as for the emi- 
nence of many of his pupils, in learning, eloquence and piety. 
Mr. McMillan finished his classical studies under the Rev. 
Robert Smith, at Pequea, and entered Princeton College in 
1770. He graduated in 1772 and returning to Pequea to 
pursue his study of theology, under Dr. Robert Smith, was 
licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1774. He early 
exhibited his missionary zeal, and under appointments, visited 
vacant congregations of Presbyterians, in the valley of Virginia, 
also in western Pennsylvania. Though his talents, learning, 
piety and other qualifications, for an acceptable and qualified 
minister, would have commanded the most comfortable situa- 
tion in the Church, in the old settlements, yet, Mr. McMillan 
choose to forego all this, traverse the great wilderness of 
of mountains, an^ cast his lot and that of his family, with the 
settlers, on the waters of the Monongahela and Youghiogeny, 
with all the sacrifices, privations, toils, sufi'erings, and perils, 
that were attendant upon these remote settlements, destitute of 
the comforts and conveniences of social life, as well as of min- 
isterial labors, teaching, and Gospel ordinances. He was or- 
dained by the Presbytery of Donegal, at Chambersburg, June, 
1776. The Revolutionary movements and Indian disturbances, 
prevented him from removing his family at once, though he 
visited the congregations of Chartiers and Pigeon creek, in 
western Pennsylvania, as often as circumstances would allow, 
and to his new field of labor in these congregations, as a set- 



139 

tied pastor, he brought his family in November, 1778. We 
are furnished with his own account of the new residence he 
had for himself and family, in the new field of labor he had 
chosen for his abode, and that of his family.* 

The leadings of Providence would seem to be marked and 
observable in the destiny, and labors of this eminent minister 
of the gospel, and instructor. The times, the state of the coun- 
try, and people, to whom he went, required no ordinary man, 
but one of uncommon energy, resolution, industry and perseve- 
rance, with ability, learning, sound in the faith, of practical 
piety; apt to teach and willing to spend his powers and be 
spent, in the service of his Divine Master. The Eev. Mr. 
McMillan was the man for this service. Not discouraged by 
the untoward circumstances of his new residence, in his log 
cabin of simple structure, and plain accomodation for his family, 
he entered on his pastoral labors with zeal. The circumstan- 
ces in which he was placed, required him to "work with his own 
hands," in handling the axe, and the other implements of the 
sturdy laborer, in the new country. He was of vigorous bodi- 
ly powers, and during his long life, was never confined half a 
day by sickness. 

" Though it was necessary for him to labor in improving his 
building and clearing his land, he did not allow this to inter- 
fere with his more important duties, as a minister of the Gos- 
pel, to which he gave all the energies of his body and mind." 

* Dr. McMillan, in a letter to Dr. Carnahan, in 1832, gave the following account ol his 
arrival in this western field, in 1778. [Old Redstone. 18G.] 

"When I came to this country, the cabin in which I was to live, was raised, but there 
was no roof to it. nor any chimney or floor. The people, however, were very liind, they 
assisted me in preparing my house, and on the Ifith of December I removed into it. 
But we had neither bedstead, nor tables, nor stool, nor chair, nor bucket. All these 
things we had to leave behind us, as there was no wagon road at that time over the 
mountains, we could bring nothing with us but what was carried on pack horses. We 
placed two boxes one on the other, which served us for a table, and two kegs served us 
for seats, and having committed ourselves to God, in family worship, we spread a bed 
on the floor and slept soundly till morning. The next day a neighbor coming to my 
assistance, we made a table and stool, and in a little time, had every thing comfortable 
about us. Sometimes, indeed, we had no bread for weeks together, but we had plenty 
of pumpkins and potatoes, and all the necessaries of life; as for luxuries, we were not 
much concerned about them. We enjoyed health, the gospel and its ordinances and 
pious friends. We were in the place where we believed God would have us to be ; and 
we did not doubt, but that He would provide every thing necessary; and glory to his 
name, we were not disappointed." 

He was a man of vigorous bodily powers, and could endure labor and toil with any of 
his neighbors. On one occasion, having made appointments to preach at two places, 
and his horse having strayed away, he proceeded on foot, and fulfilled his appomtmexits, 
by preaching at both places, and walking in all, seventeen miles for the purpose, on the 
Sabbath. 



140 

This great father of the Presbyterian Church in the west, 
was not content with doctrinal and practical religious instruc- 
'tion and pastoral visitation, to the people of his several pasto- 
;ral charges, but at an early period after his removal to the 
west, in imitation of the log colleges of eastern Pennsylvania, 
and with the example before him of the Principals of those 
.Seminaries, where he received his education, and training, he 
•directed his attention to the establishment, in the western wilds, 
of a Log College, for the education of young men in the higher 
■branches of education, as well as for preparation of those of pie- 
ty for the ministry. Like the Tennents, Blairs, Smith and 
others, he erected near his own dwelling, a log building, of 
which he was to be the principal and instructor of young men. 

Among the early and eminent ministers and teachers, who 
penetrated into western Pennsylvania, was the Eev. Thaddeus 
Dod, from New Jersey, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New 
York. He removed to the Eedstone settlement in 1778, taking 
iup his abode at Fort Lenalley, on the border of what is now 
Virginia. The Fort was a place of shelter and defence, to the 
inhabitants of the settlement, against the Indian incursions, 
then frequent and alarming. His first preaching and adminis- 
tering the ordinance of baptism, was within the Fort. The 
locality was the most perilous from Indian warfare, of all 
places in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Dods ettled on a farm, in 
the neighborhood, and after a few years, a "meeting house" of 
.hewn logs, was built near the Fort. He possessed a highly 
cultivated and well disciplined mind. "His power of concentra- 
tion, and of holding his thoughts closely upon any point, or 
subject of investigation, amidst any amount of external inter- 
ruption, was perhaps never exceeded. " Not only was he an 
accurate classical scholar, thoroughly versed in the Latin, 
Greek and Hebrew languages, but a profound mathematician. 
Soon after his settlement in the west, he united with his great 
office of preaching the Gospel, the office of instructor of youth, 
in the higher branches of classical and scientific education. The 
.settlers of this neighborhood, in 1781, united in putting up a 
Log Academy. It would appear, from historical records, that 



141 

Mr. Dod was the first in his efi'orts, in this wild country, to- 
promote the cause of education. His pastoral charge was large, 
and received his faithful and diligent attention. In 1789, he 
was appointed first principal of Washington Academy, at 
Washington, Pa., which, in 1806, was merged into Washington 
College. The burning of the building in which this Academy 
was conducted, induced Mr. Dod to return to- his first field of 
labor, where he died in 1793. His pupils held him in the 
highest respect, and ''he had the happy faculty of infusing into- 
those who were capable of it, an intense love of science and lit- 
erature." When his various traits of character are considered, 
and the remarkable combination of talents found in him, all 
must admire the Providential dispensation that assigned to- 
such a man, so useful and responsible, but yet perilous and 
self-denying charge. 

Amongst his first scholars, were the Rev. James Hughes,. 
John Price, James McGready, Samuel Porter, snd Thomas- 
Marshall, men of talent, piety, and usefulness in the ministry. 
The efforts of Rev. Mr, Dod, and Dr. Smith, in that western^ 
region, in education, may have preceded those of Dr. McMil- 
lan a short time ; and it would appear that many young men,, 
who had been studying under their direction, afterwards placed 
themselves under the instruction of Dr. McMillan, as to their 
literary course, as well as their theological instruction. Dr.. 
McMillan was the great patron of the Academy founded at Can- 
onsburg, in 1792, and when it became a chartered College, it 
had in him, a steady and faithful friend, throughout his life.. 
For many years after his settlement in the west, he and his 
family were exposed to great privations and trials, and some- 
times to such peril from the Indian enemy, as to compel them 
to seek shelter in the Fort. His ministerial labors were ardu- 
ous, and greatly blessed. It is said, by a biographer, who 
knew him well, the late Rev. Dr. M. Brown, "that it was sup- 
posed that hundreds and even thousands, were, through his 
instrumentality, converted and trained up for heaven, and 
that perhaps one hundred ministers were trained, more or less,, 
in his school of the prophets, many of whom were eminently- 
useful." 



142 

He preached often, in 1833, the yes r of bis death, in the 
eighty-second year of his age, and sixtieth of his ministry, on 
some occasions leaning on a crutch for the support of his aged 
frame.* 

The Rev. Joseph Smith, was an able coadjutor of Dr. Mc- 
Millan and Rev. James Power, D. D., in the great western 
field of ministerial labor. He had graduated at Princeton in 
1762, and was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, to 
preach the Gospel in 1767. After laboring for some years in 
the eastern settlements, and visiting the west, he accepted of a 
call from Cross creek and Buffalo, in western Pennsylvania. 
In 1780, he moved into the bounds of the latter, as their pas- 
tor. "He was a thorough classical scholar, of well disciplined 
mind, sound in the faith, abounding in piety and zeal in his 
ministerial work, in which his labors, as a pastor, were eminent- 
ly blessed, and though preaching was his great work, he was 
distinguished for his usefulness out of the pulpit, in chatechet- 
ical instruction of the young, and in his earnest and affective 
conversation with his people about their eternal interests." 

The first school that was opened in the west, for training 
young men for the sacred office of the ministry, was begun by 
Mr. Smith, at Buffalo, Washington county, Pennsylvania, 
about 1785. Mr. Smith had a small building erected in a 
corner of his garden, called ''the student's room." In this, 
and the log cabin of Dr. McMillan, were educated in the west 
some men who were distinguished for their influence and use- 
fulness in society, and in the Church. Amongst these were 
the Rev. Messrs. William Swan, Samuel Porter, James Hughes, 
John Brice, David Smith, Joseph Patterson. The school for 
the languages and sciences was continued for some time, and 
then, by some mutual arrangement, was transferred, and or- 
ganized near Canonsburg, under the care of Dr. McMillan, 
and out of which was raised Jefferson College. 



* In the grave yard of Chartiers, over his remains, is erected by the congregation, a 
tomb-stone, the following, is a part of the inscription: "Erected in memory of the Rev. 
John McMillan, I). D., an able divine, a preacher of the first order. His distinguished 
talents, his active benevolence, his private virtue, his exalted piety, the skill and abili- 
ly which he displayed in instructing, and training young men for the Gospel min- 
istry, his indefatigable zeal in promoting his Master's '•.ause, and the best interests of 
his fellow men, have raised a monument to his fame, far more imperishable than the 
atone which bears this inscription. He was the leading founder of Jefferson College." 



143 

The first Presbytery, organized in western Pennsylvania 
was, in September, 1781, by the Kev. Messrs. John McMillan, 
James Power, and Thaddeus Dod, with their elders ; the Pv-ev. 
Joseph Smith, being absent. It was called "the Presbytery of 
Bedstone." The term "Eedston* settlement," designated most 
of the country in south western Pennsylvania, claimed by Penn- 
sylvania or Virginia, embracing what now constitutes the 
counties of Fayette, Washington, Green, and parts of West- 
moreland, and Allegheny. The settlement took its name from 
that of a creek, which enters the Monongahela near Browns- 
ville, a place of ancient notoriety, by the name of "'Bedstone 
old Fort." 

The influx of emigrants, alter the Bevolution, was rapid, and 
continued from eastern Pennsylvania, as well as from Virginia, 
with a considerable number direct from Ireland. The great 
mass were of Irish nativity, or descent, and members of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

Amongst them were adventurers, of coarse and uncultivated 
habits, ignorant and disorderly, looking to the chase for their 
pastime and occupation ; and content with a rude cabin, and a 
small patch of land for cultivation, to which there was no great 
attachment, when anything more advantageous, in the country 
presented itself, as an inducement to a removal. There were, 
however, as stated by reliable historians, in this western settle- 
ment, at the close of the Bevolutionary war, and after, "a nu- 
merous class of persons, possessing a degree of refinement and 
intelligence, that would have no occasion to blush in the 
presence of any class of persons, native or otherwise, now to be 
found amongst us. Many of them continue to gather around 
them some of the usual appendages of a higher social life. 
Throughout a portion of Westmoreland, Fayette and Washing- 
ton counties, there were many gentlemen farmers of refined, 
easy manners, courtly in their address, social and hospitable, 
always ready to receive the ministers on their weary journey 
to distant meetings, or to the destitute settlements." Thus 
with this class of families seated around them through their 
respective fields of labor, the Presbyterian ministers were 



144 

greatly aided in their efforts for the general improvement of 
the domestic and social state of the country." In addition ta 
this class, " there were amongst these settlers of the west, a 
still more numerous one, of plain, substantial, Scotch Irish 
people, who, though somewhat blunt and unpolished in their 
manners, yet for real kindness of disposition, integrity and hos- 
pitality, were not excelled by any ot their descendants.'' 

Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the female sex of 
this middle class. There was a great energy of character, a 
patient endurance of the hardships of frontier life, and a cheer- 
ful submision to domestic privations, which entitle them to the 
grateful remembrance of the present generation." [Old Red- 
stone by Dr. Smith, 109.] 

It must be admitted by every candid inquirer, that the debt 
of gratitude owing by the western country, to the four mission- 
ary pioneers of south western Pennsylvania, was an immense 
one ; and which we, at this distant day, are unable to compute. 
Their memories should be regarded with reverence, as the great 
benefactors of their age. Men of talents and education, com- 
missioned by the courts of the Church to preach the everlasting 
Gospel, to their fellow men, burning with missionary spirit and 
zeal, sought the destitute settlements of our western frontier,. 
as the field of their labor. They were not held back by the- 
superior comforts, associations and refinements of society, east 
of the mountain ranges, but with their families, at their own 
expense, traversed a wilderness of mountains, by the traders' 
or Indians' path, with toil, privations and fatigue, insurmount- 
able to all but men and women of uncommon energy, and reso- 
lution, to be engaged in a good work. This great western 
field was only to be reached and occupied, at the peril of health 
and life, from exposure in a country of almost unbroken forest, 
and with savage enemies roaming from time to time through 
its fastnesses, to way-lay, surprise and often massacre defence- 
less families. An overuling Providence directed their way^ 
watched over, and guarded them and their families, on their 
perilous journey, and conducted them safely to the places of 
their destination on the frontier settlements. When there, the 



145 

same Almiglity care was over tliem, to guard, and bless them 
in their labors in behalf of their fellow men. Though labor- 
ing in season and out of season, their service in the work of 
their Divine Master was to them all, one of many years, and 
the two Messrs. Power and McMillan, who would seem to have 
first entered the service, had their lives prolonged to four 
score years and upwards. They were allowed to live to see 
their work prosper, and the fruits of their labors, in an extend- 
ed and flourishing Church, and educated and elevated ministry, 
and the pupils of their seminaries adorning the learned pro- 
fessions, and the halls of legislation, with men of education, 
learning, and usefulness. There was in the lives of these apos- 
tles to the frontier, an exalted manifestation of disinterested- 
ness, and personal sacrifice seldom equalled. They were the 
great instruments to promote the religious, moral and intellec- 
tual improvement of large and rapidly increasing settlements 
of American freemen and their families, and in elevating them 
to a degree in the scale of intelligence, refinement, enterprise, 
elevated Christian principle, and every virtue and quality, with 
the most favored communities of our great Commonwealth. 

The Rev. Mr. Doddridge, an Episcopal clergyman of esti- 
mation in western Virginia, and author of a work on the life 
and manners of the western settlers, states : "That the minis- 
try of the Gospel has contributed, no doubt, immensely to the 
happy change which has been effected in the state of our 
western society. At an early period of our settlements, three 
Presbyterian clergymen commenced their clerical labors in our 
infant settlements : Eev. Joseph Smith, Rev. John McMillan 
and the Rev, James Power. They were pious, patient, labori- 
ous men, who collected their people into regular congregations, 
and did for them all that their circumstances would allow. It . 
was no disparagement to them that their first churches were 
the shady groves, and their first pulpits a kind of tent, con- 
structed of a few rough slabs, covered with clapboards. He 
who dwelleth not exclusively in temples made with hands, was 
propitious to their devotions." After referring, with approba- 
tion, to the grammar schools, established at their own houses. 
10 



146 

or in tlieir immediate neighborhoods, he bears his testimony to 
their success and usefuhiess, in establishing first, Canonsburg 
Academy incorporated into Jefferson College, he says: "This 
institution has been remarkably successful in its operations. It 
Has produced a large number of good scholars in all the litera- 
ry professions, and added immensely to the science of the coun- 
try. Next to this, Washington College has been the means of 
difi'using much of the lis-ht of science throuo;h the western couQ:- 
try. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on these good men, 
who opened these fruitful sources of instruction for our infant 
country at so early a period of its settlement. They have im- 
mensely improved the departments of theology, law, medicine 
and legislation in the western regions." 

This is impartial and high testimony from a respectable and 
intelligent minister of another Christian denomination, to the 
character and usefulness of the Presbyterian ministers of the 
Scotch Irish race, who at an early day entered western Penn- 
sylvania, when a wilderness, and whose labors and success were 
in the neis-hborhood of the dwellino; of Mr. Doddridge, and of 
which he was for many years an observer. 

The usages of our State and National Governments have been, 
to accord for public services, to some of the distinghuish actors 
in the land and naval armaments, their honors and rewards by 
the resolutions of their legislative bodies, by votes of thanks, 
medcils or swords. And sometimes the people, by the highest 
gift in their power, have elevated to the Presidency of the Re- 
public, a successful General, with little regtird to qualification 
for the ofiice of Chief Magistrate of a constitutional government. 

Where death has conquered the conqueror of a host of his 
fellow-men by their slaughter or captivity, there has been erec- 
ted to his memory a monument of marble or bronze, to com- 
memorate his deeds of human carnage. 

The benefactors of their age, by deeds of philanthropy, by 
their labors of love, in the religious, moral and intellectual 
improvement of great communities of the people, over extensive 
"^districts of the country, unprovided for by the government, are 
left only to the spontaneous effusions and gratitude of individu- 
als or the communities specially favored by their labors. 



147 

What is there in any Christian country to elevate a military 
chieftain in public favor, above the faithful missionary in the 
service of the King of kings ? The military comraancler in his 
march to the seat of war, when on the frontier, has his accom- 
paniments of soldiers to pitch and strike his t.ent, have the care 
of his horse and baggage, protect his person, minister to his 
wants and execute his orders, and when he reaches the country 
of the enemy, his toil, exposure and peril are often ended by a 
campaign of a few months or a single battle in which the for- 
tunes of war, superior numbers or military tactics, had given 
him a victory to be applauded by his all-observing country- 
men. 

It is to be deplored that the tendencies of public sentiment, 
in our great Kepublic, should be so much to create a war spirit, 
foster and honor military prowess, place it in the front rank 
of public service, and make war and the army the high road to 
honor and distinction. The organization of our government is 
adapted to peace, with the progress and prosperity that are the 
growth of peaceful relations. War is not the element for its 
success and permanency, but should be considered and averted 
as a great calamity to the nation, unless when national honor 
and safety impose it. 

The missionary of the Gospel of peace, is a soldier of the 
cross whose weapon is the sword of the Spirit, with the Bible 
for his shield and banner. His war is with ignorance, vice, sin 
and infidelity; the conquest sought by him is not one of blood 
or death, but to bring oil the enemies of God and man captive 
from death unto life, and from sin unto righteousness. His en- 
ergy, fortitude, brsvery and zeal, are attested by toil and ex- 
posure of life, not only in his solitary and perilous journeys in 
the country traversed by savage enemies, or in the campaign of 
one season, or a single battlefield, but by a long life of faithful 
and devoted service to his Divine Master. His reward is the 
satisfection of doing that Master's work on earth, and he may 
hope for the recompense of reward to a feithful servant in th-' 
life to come, from the righteous Judge of the living and the 
dead. 



148 

Ministers Plenipotentiary have been appointed from time to 
time, and sent by our national government, with expensive out- 
fits and salaries, to represent it in its foreign relations, to the 
European governments of the highest rank; and on some occa- 
sions, they have been honored with a passage across the ocean 
in a national ship, and after living sumptuously and enjoying 
the society of royalty and nobility for some years, returned to 
•their country, and yet how few of these public characters, in all 
their diplomacy, have rendered to the welftire and prosperity of 
their countiy, a tithe of the benefits rendered by more than one 
of the Presbyterian ministers named, in the mission from the 
Church to the frontier settlements of western Pennsylvania, by 
their labor and services in extending religious and moral influ- 
ence, and defusing and elevating education. 

After the Revolutionary war was ended and peace establish- 
ed, the emigration to western Pennsylvania increased rapidly. 
The district of country, embracing the present counties of West- 
moreland, Fayette, Allegheny, Washington and Green, was 
attractive to settlers from the counties of Chester, Lancaster, 
York and Cumberland. Many of these were emigrants from 
Ireland, who had taken up their residence for a time, in the 
eastern part of the State, where they had sojourned with their 
friends, or countrymen. Many emigrants also, as they arrived 
from Ireland, directed their way to the Scotch Irish settle- 
ments, rapidly progressing, in south western Pennsylvania. 
The mass of these, were men of intelligence, resolution, energy, 
religious and moral character, having means that enabled ihem 
to supply themselves with suitable selections of land, for their 
residence and farm, and with the necessary stock and imple- 
ments, for their accommodation. They were like their prede- 
cessors, east of the mountains, agriculturists of substance and 
industry, who sought a place for the permanent abode of their 
families, and the means of supporting them. 

It is matter of some surprise, that so many substantial and 
respectable settlers, were attracted to such a residence at that 
time, west of the mountains, when there was so much land un- 
cultivated in the Kittoch tinny valley, and other valleys, east 



149 

of tlie Allegheny mountain, that were equally fertile, and so 
much more accessible, and more convenient to the eastern set- 
tlements, and markets, as well as the land and other public 
offices, of the State Government. These lands were to be pur- 
chased from individual holders, at moderate advances on the 
land office prices. We must suppose, that they had friends 
and relatives, who had preceded them, to the western waters, 
whose association and neighborhood they preferred, and whose 
description of the country of their settlement, and its fresh and 
fertile soil, had in it much to attract them. We cannot say, 
at this day, they acted unwisely, or that their circumstances 
and those of their families, would have been improved by a res- 
idence east of the Allegheny mountain. The resolution, ener- 
gy, enterprise and industry, that enabled them to overcome the 
obstacles of a journey across the mountain ranges, and the toils, 
sacrifices, and perils, incident to settlements so remote from 
market and more advanced communities, as well as from gov- 
ernment aid and protection, formed in the men and women of 
those times, the characters most desirable and useful in this 
new and opening country, whose labors and perseverance con- 
verted the wilderness into well cultivated farms, constituted a 
barrier to savage incursions on the eastern settlements, organ- 
ized congregations of Christain worshippers, and established 
and maintained schools and seminaries of education. The ac- 
tivity and character of such a population, were not to end with 
the one generation. It was transmissible to descendants, who 
had been brought up under such training and education, as 
made them, in after times, the great pioneers and founders of 
settlements of the northwestern territory and the States form- 
ed out of it, in which these descendants of the Scotch Irish set- 
tlers of western Pennsylvania, were amongst the most promi- 
nent, useful, and distinguished citizens of the E,epublic. 

These settlers are not to be confounded with rambling set- 
tlers, who were generally in advance of civilization, and on the 
confines of the frontier, and who made their hasty settlement 
without office grant or right, putting up a rough cabin, as a 
shelter for their families, attached to which, was a small patch 



150 

of clear land, for the cultivation of some garden vegetables and 
corn, depending on their guns for supply of meat for their fam- 
ilies, and for the pkins and furs, that furnished them some of 
their clothing and household articles, and were their staples for 
sale or barter to the trader. This class of adventurers, who 
Avere, it is believed, more numerous on the coiifines of Virginia, 
and adjacent, and who have been graphically described by the 
Eev. Mr. Doddridge, in his published rotes, on their habits, 
condition and education, were little better than the Indians, 
and were ready to sell the pre-emption, or inceptionof title, un- 
der their improvement, to some settler of more means, and of 
different habits and character, who was able and willing to pay 
the squatter an advance on his improvement, and take from 
the land office an official grant, predicated on the improvement, 
as the inception of title. The improver, or squatter, thus sel- 
ling, was ready, on short notice, to gather up his small stock of 
goods and chatties, and from his knowledge of the great extent 
of unimproved lands, in the country where ho was accustomed 
to roam in pursuit of game, or his Indian foes, would set him- 
self down on some other eligible tract of vacant land, and pros- 
ecute anew his speculating and roving propensities, by erecting 
the smalllog cabin, to be occupied until it might, in time, be 
sold to advantage, to some exploring emigrant, who was wil- 
ling to purchase the possessory right to be confirmed by an 
official grant from the State, on the established terms of the 
law. 

Settlers of the same character are to be found in these days, 
on the frontier of the United States, intruding on the public 
lands, as well as those of Indian reservation, before they are 
open to appropriation and sale. They claim a pre-emption, 
when the lands are offered for sale by the government, and 
intimidate all competition of purchasers, by threats of violence 
and bloodshed, which are sometimes put into barbarous execu- 
tion. They generally profess a willingness to sell out their 
pre-emption, which is often only a wrongful possession against 
law, and maintained in violation of law, but to which peaceful 
and orderly settlers are, for peace and safety, forced to submit. 



1:51 

After sale, the roaming settler will renew and pursue his squat- 
ting propensities and uncivilized habits, in some more remote 
territory. 

Amongst the emigrants that removed to western Pennsyl- 
vania, after the Eevolutionary war, were ministers of the Gros- 
pel in the Presbyterian Church, educated in the Log Colleges 
of eastern Pennsylvania, and graduates of Princeton College. 
Amongst these, was the Eev. James Finley, of Irish nativity, 
educated in his classical studies at the Log College, under the 
Bev. Samuel Blair, where he was trained to an accurate schol- 
arship in the languages. He was the brother of Dr. Finley, 
President of Princeton College. The Pi,ev. James Finley re- 
moved to the Forks of Youghiogeny, in western Pennsylvania, 
in 1783, where he was called and settled as a pastor in the 
Presbyterian Church. He had been licensed as a minister and 
officiated as such, for some years before, in eastern Pennsylva- 
nia, and had visited the Presbyterian congregations of west 
Pennsylvania, some years before his removal to reside in that 
country. He was a man of eminent piety, and a devoted, 
faithful and excellent pastor. 

The Eev. James Dunlap, a native of Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania, receiving his early education in the schools of his 
neighborhood, graduated at Princeton College in 1773. He 
studied divinity under the Eev. James Finley, at East Notting- 
ham, before his removal to the west ; was licensed by the Pres- 
bytery of Donegal about 1781 ; ordained, sine titulo, by the 
Presbytery of New Castle, at Fagg's manor, in 1781, and 
shortly after removed to western Pennsylvania, where he was 
installed pastor of the Congregations of Laurel Hill and Dun- 
lap's creek. In 1803, he was chosen President of Jefferson Col- 
lege, a station which he held with great respect until 1811, hav- 
ing had conferred on him the title of Doctor of Divinity, by 
the Trustees of the College, with which he was connected. He 
was represented as a man of great piety, and eminent for his 
accurate attainments in classical literature, with which it is 
said, he was so familiar, as to have the ancient classics in his 
memory, to recite, or hear and correct the recital of others. 



152 

There were several other ministers of the Presbyterian 
Charch, educated in the Log Colleges of eastern Pennsylvania, 
some of whom graduated at Princeton College and directed their 
way, about the same time, to western Pennsylvania, as a field 
for their labor and services, where their labors were great- 
ly blessed and successful. This great district of country, em- 
bracing now six or more counties of distinction, wealth and in- 
fluence in the State, would seem to have been peculiarly attrac- 
tive to all classes of citizens, at an early day, many of whom 
were eminent for talents, intelligence, learning and usefulness. 
They disregarded the want of political, commercial and social 
advantages as enjoyed in eastern Pennsylvania, and would seem 
to have anticipated the improvements that were to overcome 
the mountain barriers, and place them nearer to their State 
Capitol, as well as the seat of the National Government, eastern 
markets and eastern associations. 

Amongst these was Arthur St. Clair, of Scotch nativity, who 
as a military commander, settled at Fort Ligonier, where he 
was at the organization of Westmoreland county, in 1773, of 
the Courts of which he was appointed the first Clerk. Though 
esteemed for military talents of an high order, bravery, integ- 
rity and patriotism which elevated him to the rank of Major 
General in the army of the American colonies, yet misfortune 
marked him as her own, and his memorable defeat by the In- 
dians, has always been regarded as a sad event in the history of 
the Eepublic, imputable more to the condition and supplies of 
the army, than want of Generalship, in the commander, who, at 
the time, was helpless in his tent from disease, and not able to 
mount his horse without assistance. Having served his coun- 
try in many civil ofiices with ability and fidelity, he died in 
"Westmoreland county, in 1818, at the age of 84. 

Hugh Henry Bracken ridge, of a high reputaiion as a scholar, 
lawyer, politician and jurist in Pennsylvania, removed to west- 
ern Pennsylvania, about 1781, as a place for his permanent 
abode. Having been brought by his parents from Scotland to 
York county, Pennsylvania when he was a child, his early ed- 
ucation was in the schools of the neighborhood, and pursued at 



153 

Princeton College, where he graduated. He was licensed in the 
ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and served in the Ameri- 
can army as a chaplain. Having relinquished the ministry and 
studied law, he entered on its practice in western Pennsylvania, 
when that country was little more than a wilderness. In his 
profession he was prosperous and distinguished. In 1800 he 
was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, a sta- 
tion which he filled with ability, and which he retained until 
his death in 1818. 

James Ross, of Pittsburg, eminent for talents and learning, 
and distinguished as a laywer, advocate and statesman, emi- 
grated, a young man, from the Barrens of York county, to 
western Pennsylvania, shortly after the revolutionary war. He 
was a descendant of Scotch Irish parents who had given him 
the plain education their circumstances and neighborhood af- 
forded. By application he advanced himself in his education, 
and for some time was employed as a teacher. By pursuing 
his studies, he soon qualified himself for admission to the bar. 
His great powers, of mind, with industry and application, gave 
him a rank as a lawyer that had few equals, and as a member 
of the Pennsylvania State Convention to form a Constitution 
for its government, and as a statesman in the United States 
Senate, he was not surpassed. His high and merited reputa- 
tion, made him a public man of celebrity, in Pennsylvcinia, and 
of much regard in other States. 

Alexander Addison, a Scotchman by birth and education, was 
licensed as a minister, by a Presbytery of Scotland and emigra- 
ted to United States. He took up his abode in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1784, as a Presbyterian minister. As 
such he officiated there acceptably to the Presbyterian congre- 
gation in Washington for some time, and they were desirous of 
having him for tbeir permanent pastor. Mr. Addison there 
gave his attention to the study of the law, and withdrawing 
from the ministry, was admitted as an attorney of the Courts. 
His talents and superior acquirements soon commanded atten- 
tion and regard. In 1791, he was appointed the first President 
Judge of the Judicial District for that section of the State, He 



' 154 

was a man of strong mind, great attainments and undoubted in- 
tegrity. His judicial opinions and charges to the Grand Juries 
of his District are monuments of his sound judgment, legal 
learning and political wisdom, as well as of his devotion to the 
peace and good order of society and the maintenance of the con- 
stitution and laws. Presiding at a time of great party excite- 
ment, and in a district where there was an organized, unlawful 
but popular opposition to some of the laws and constituted au-* 
thorities of the national government, he made himself obnoxious 
to the facetious multitudes by his conservative principles, and 
the exercise of his judicial powers in the preservation of order 
and submission to the laws of the government. He was some- 
what impatient in temper, and could not be courteous to ignor- 
ance combined with rudeness and presumption. 

Though impeached and removed from his judicial station by 
a partizan Legislature of Pennsylvania, for frivolous cause that 
did not impeach his integrity, he was dishonored less, in the es- 
timation of a virtuous and intelligent community than the pub- 
lic body which unjustly sought to make him a victim to party 
persecution and individual hostility.* 

Albert Gallatin, a Swiss young man of talents and learning, 
who had graduated at Geneva, in Switzerland, sought a home 
in the American republic, and after visiting several parts of the 
United States, between 1783 and 1785, by the advice of hig 
friends, selected a place on the banks of the Monongahela, with- 
in the present county of Fayette, Pennsylvania, for his resi- 
dence. As soon as he became known in that humble retire- 
ment, his talents and acquirements obtained for him the public 
respect and confidence. As early as 1789, he was elected from 
the district of his residence, a member of the Convention to 
amend the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which brought him to 
public notice as a man of abilities and learning. His subse- 
quent life was one of official service in the highest st;-.tions in 
the gift of the people, or in the appointment of the government, 
with the exception of the Presidency. His abilities as astates- 

* -'Alex-ander Addison was (he President of the Courts in four counties, and I venture 
to sav, thiU a more Intelligent, learned, upright and fearless Judge was not to found m 
the State." [Dr. Cariiahan.] 



155 

man, financier and diplomatist, were acnowledged by the coun- 
try, and are familiar to all who are conversant with the history 
of our government. 

"William Findlay, of the county of "Westmoreland, settled in 
that county about the close of the Eevolutionary war. He was 
an emigrant from Ireland, who had first settled on the Conoco- 
chea.gue, in the Kittochtinny valley, about 1764. His means 
were small, and he there followed the humble occupation of a 
weaver. He was of limited early education, but of strong in- 
tellect, which he cultivated by reading and reflection. He ac- 
quired a knowledge of history and government which made him 
an influential member of society in its relations, and in all pub- 
lic measures. As a public man, he was respected for sagacity, 
experience and judgement. The confidence of the community, 
in his patriotism and judgment, was manifested where he re- 
sided, by his selection as one of the Council of Censors of the 
State government under the Constitution of 1776. He was a 
member of the Convention that formed the Constitution of 1790, 
and represented the district in which he resided in other official 
stations of distinction and responsibility. 

Scotch Irish families moved to this western district, during 
and immediately after the Eevolutionary war, in great numbers. 
In these families were members who united piety with intelli- 
gence and a desire to cultivate their minds, and who, under the 
teachings and direction of the llev. Messrs. Smith, McMillan, 
and Dod, qualified, themselves by their studies for the ministry, 
to which, after proper probation and trial, they were admitted. 
Many of them were distinguished for ability and learning, as 
well as their aptness to teach and their faithful devotion and 
labor as pastors ; amongst whom were the Rev. Joseph Patter- 
son, Rev. Samuel Porter, Rev. Robert Marshall, of Irish na- 
tivity, Rev. James Hughes, Rev. John Price, Rev. James Mc- 
Gready, Rev. Elisha McCurdy, of Irish descent, and others. 

The praise of these men is still in the congregations in which 
they were ministers laboring faithfully, acceptably and useful- 
ly. To these were added many other Presbyterian ministers of 
education, learning and piety, from the eastern part of the State, 



156 

licensed by the Presbyteries of Donegal and Carlisle. We can- 
not give a sketch of their usefulness and labors without extend- 
ing this article beyond our proper limits.* 

In this western country, there were, at the close of the last 
century, and' immediately before, a large amount of intelligence, 
with religious and moral character, as well as means and op- 
portunities of literary, scientific, and theological education for 
young men, who would seek it, not as a pastime, for a portion 
of their life, but to be seduously improved to the acquisition of 
knowledge, with mental cultivation and discipline. 

The great majority of the early settlers, manifested their sat- 
isfaction with their residence in this wild country, by making 
it their homes until death. We may, at this day, wonder at 
the contentment of intelligent and highly cultivated minds, so 
much to be admired, in the midst of privations, which, in this 
age, would be considered as beyond endurance, by any who 
could withdraw themselves from them, and obtain a residence, 
where there were more comforts, and social enjoyments. 

The occupation of almost all, was agriculture ; their taste 
rural; like their friends of the Kittochtinny valley, they had 
no partialit}- for towns and villages, which, when established, 
it was only in compliance with some special necessity, and the 
public wanted the accommodation. Westmoreland county was 
organized in 1773, embracing all south western Pennsylvania. 
The place appointed for holding of its Courts, and county Offi- 
ces, was Hanna's town, a small village, and the only one in the 
district. It was situated on the old Forbes army road, distant 
but a few miles from the present town of Greensburg, after- 
wards located there. Hanna's town consisted of about thirty 
log houses and cabins, including a log Court House and Jail. 
The Courts for this large district, were only held at this place, 
and before Justices of the Peace. This was at a time when 
Virginia claimed this village, as well as nearly all Westmore- 
land county, as being her territory ; and in maintenance of her 
jurisdiction and authority, had established her Courts at a place 

* The reader is referred for fall and very intere.=tinj: information reppecting the in- 
cidetnf! of their lives in this western ffeld, to JJr, Elliot's life of McCurdy and others, 
and to 'Old Redstone," by Ur. Smith. 



157 

south a few miles of where the town of Washington is located, 
and also where Brownsville now is, in the county of Fayette. 
There were at this period, but a few log cabins or dwellings 
adjacent to Fort Pitt. The conflict between these territorial 
claims of the two governments, were harassing to the settlers 
under Pennsylvania, who, as well as the officers and magistrates 
under its government, were subjected to frequent arrest and 
imprisonment, by persons under the authority and command of 
Dunmore, the arbitrary Governor of Virginia. These conflicts 
were kept up for some years, and even after the commence- 
ment of the Bevolutionary war, and until the royal Governor 
of Virginia, preferring to retain his rank, and the royal service 
to a republican government, fled as a fugitive from Virginia, 
to the shelter of the army of his King. This conflict of juris- 
diction, and of the officers of the law, were, after this, in a 
great measure, suspended in the district, by mutual forbear- 
ance and accommodation. The title to lands was uncertain, 
and embarrassing to the settlers, and to those who were desi- 
rous o'f purchasing, or making an appropriation under the gov- 
ernment, until the boundary line was permanently established 
in 1784, by which Pennsylvania jurisdiction and right were 
quieted, and confirmed, over this large district of fertile and 
valuable country. 

The settlers were for many years during the Kevolution, and 
for a long time after, exposed to Indian invasions, alarming 
ravages, and massacres, and for the defence of themselves and 
families, against the savage enemy, the government made little 
provision, and lelt them, in a great measure, to their own 
resources. 

Their means of conveyance and transportation, from the 
eastern settlements and markets, were the pack horse, by the 
traders' paths, across mountain ranges of great extent, not ad- 
mitting of wheel carriages. Their trade to New Orleans, was 
tedious and perilous, for many hundred miles, through a hos- 
tile Indian country, and their return from New Orleans was 
either by sea, to the Atlantic cities, or by traversing the west- 
ern wilderness for two thousand miles. 



158 

Their raercLandize and groceries, with iron and salt, were 
brought across the mountains on pack horses, from Chambers- 
burg, Hagerstown, or Winchester. The first wagon that pass- 
ed over this barrier of mountain i^anges, to these western set- 
tlements, was in 1789, from Hagerstown to Brownsville. It 
was drawn by four horses, carrying two thousand pounds, and 
was near a month on the road of about one hundred and thir- 
ty miles. 

The first newspaper published west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains, was the "Pittsburg Gazette," in 1786, by John Scull and 
Joseph Hall. At that time there was no mail to the district ;. 
all correspondence was carried on by special express, or casual 
travellers and traders. In the fall of 1786, the first post was 
established from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and one from Vir- 
ginia, to meet the other at Bedford. 

The county of Washington was not organized until 1781,d an 
the town of Washington within it, laid out in 1782, at a place 
known as an Indian village, called Catfish, from the name of 
its Indian Chief, who had resided there at an early day. 

The town of Pittsburg was laid out in 1784, by agents of the 
old Proprietary family, on a reserved manor ; yet its inhabi- 
tants had to attend their Courts at Greensburg, until 1788, 
when Allegheny county was erected. 

In 1786, Pittsburg contained but thirty six log houses, one 
stone, and one frame house, and in it there were five small 
stores. 

Hanna's town, the principal and only town in the district, 
was attacked by the Indian?, in 1782, captured and burned, 
with its log Court House, Ofiices and Jail. Its inhabitants 
having taken shelter in the adjacent stockade fort, escaped the 
fury of the savages, through the stratagem, bravery and man- 
agement of a few settlers sheltered in it, and who were prac- 
tised in Indian warfare. 

Merchandise and groceries were obtained for family use 
from merchants, established in various parts of the country, 
who obtained their supplies from the eastern cities and towns, 
through the traders and carriers by pack horses. 



159 

It is matter of liistory, that tlie paper on which the "Pitts- 
burg Gazette" was printed, was brought on pack horses for 
some years from Chambersburg, where it Was manufactured; 
and that in 1792, the pubUshcrs, not receiving their expect- 
ed supply by the pack horse carrier, who reported, "No paper 
finished," Mr. Scull borrowed from the keepers of the jDublic 
stores, three reams, for a number of his paper, until the pack 
horses would again return from Chambersburg. 

Fayette county, was organized in 1783, yet Uniontown, which 
consisted of a few log buildings, did not improve much until 
after 1796, The transportation of merchandize across the 
mountains, and of the necessary articles of iron and salt, continu- 
ed by pack horses, until near the close of the last century. As 
late as 1796, at Chambersburg, pack horses were loaded with 
various articles for the west, including bar iron. In that year, 
the first paper mill, west of the mountains, was erected at 
Brownsville, and until it was in operation, the paper mill at 
Chambersburg supplied the entire west with paper, including 
Kentucky. 

The first stage coach was established from Chambersburg to 
Pittsburg, in 1804, over a rough and narrow mountain road, 
opened a little by the townships, with the aid of contributions 
from some citizens of public spirit, on or near the line. The 
turnpike roads, from the east side of the mountains to Pitts- 
burg and Brownsville, were constructed for public use about 
1820. 

With all the disadvantages and privations enumerated, the 
western district filled up rapidly, with industrious, enterpris- 
ing, resolute and intelligent inhabitants, who were not deterred 
by such obstacles, and who were willing to risk their fortunes, 
in this land of promise, though forbidding in many respects. 

The predominant element of character in the population of 
this western, district, was that of Scotch Irish origin. The 
great mass of it was of Irish and Scotch nativity or descent. 
The influence, peculiarities, and policy of that race were mani- 
fested in the progress, improvements, and institutions of the 
community, spread over this wide district. In habits, taste, 



160 

religious and moral cliaracter, political sentiments, and social 
condition, they resembled much the same race that peopled the 
Kittochtinny or Cumberland valley of Pennsylvania. 

Like it, they were still more remote from the offices, atten- 
tion, supervision or provision of the State government. Their 
patriotism was exhibited as early as 16th May, 1775, at a pub- 
lic meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland county, con- 
vened at Hanna's town, in which they denounced the British 
ministry as wicked, and the Parliament corrupt, and the acts 
against Massachusetts Bay, as a system "of tyranny and op- 
pression, and that they were ready to oppose it with their lives 
and fortunes."* British policy and cruelty having instigated 
the savages on our western frontier, to renew their hostilities 
on the frontier settlements, compelled all the men of Westmore- 
land, fit for military service, to remain near their homes, to de- 
fend the country, during the P\,evolutionary war, against the 
incursions of the many tribes of Indians that dwelled and roam- 
ed between the Ohio and Allegheny waters and the Lakes. 

In that defence, they were exercised by frequent alarms from 
the savages, who frequently stole their way, unobserved into 
the settlements, surprising families, and marking their way with 
fire and bloodshed. After Independence, children were often 
carried off" captive to Detroit, still in possession of the British, 
contrary to treaty, where they were permitted to be sold. 
After their depredations, the Indians, in their accustomed war- 
fare, made a hasty retreat by their byways across the Ohio. 
The continued state of alarm, and great insecurity of the fami- 
lies of the settlers, induced the erection of stockade forts and 
block houses, for shelter and defence. The men had their fire- 
arms always ready for use, and generally in their hands or at 
their sides, in their occupations in or near their farms and 

dwellings. 

The State government, or the Confederation, were not in 
condition to afford the necessary relief or protection. The ob- 
ligations of the whole country and the State and National gov- 
ernments were great, to the brave and resolute men, who, in 

* Amer. Archives' 4th Se:ies, Vol. 2, page 615. 



161 

the midst of many alarms and perils, to their lives and that of 
their families, defended that frontier, against the incursions of 
powerful tribes of savages, and in so doing, relieved the settle- 
ments east of the mountains, from the murderous attacks of 
this terrible enemy. For this interposition and defence, these 
men received no adequate requital, either in land or in money. 
These harassing wars of the Indians, were continued until 
Wayne's victory, in 1794, which subdued the Indians, and gave 
security and permanent peace to the settlements. 

Yet, with privations, sacrifices and trials, so many and great, 
this western district increased rapidly in population, improve- 
ment, and resources. The great majority of the people were 
contented and reconciled to the country they had selected for 
their abode. The great instrumentality in the improvement of 
this increasing and wide spread community, in religious, moral, 
intellectual and social condition, were the Presbyterian minis- 
ters, who have been referred to, as the great pioneers in ex- 
tending religious influence and congregational organization for 
Christian worship, and in extending aud diffusing education. 

The youth were educated at home, in the rudiments of 
knowledge, under parental instruction, and trained to obedi- 
ence and subordination, as the unbending law of the fomily. 
They learned there the great truths of the Gospel, and "what 
man was to believe concerning God, and what duty God re- 
quires of man." The schools established by Presbyterian min- 
isters, in which they were instructors, as well as the principal; 
or which were under their supervision, confirmed and extended 
the home education. The scholars of these schools were desi- 
rous of improving their minds, adding, by application, to their 
knowledge, and profiting under all the facilities and means 
Ihey enjoyed, for their instruction. The habits of obedience 
and subordination that were established at home, were brought 
into the school room, in all their force. 

The pastors of congregations, or the missionaries of the 
Church, by their influence and knowledge, co-operated in the 
great work of religious and moral instruction, by their teach- 
ings and exhortations, which were regarded with reverence, as 



162 

those of learned and pious men, commissioned by the courts of 
the Presbyterian Church. 

The impress of such instrumentalities, was not only mani- 
fested in the families of church members, but by association 
and influence extended beyond the pale of organized congrega- 
tions ; and their tendency was to reform, and elevate public 
sentiment, and morals, as well as the habits and manners of 
the people. The great success of the ministers, in the early 
history of this new country, is evidence of the Divine blessing 
and sanction, which accompanied and impressed their labors. 

The old Eedstone Presbytery, in 1781, embraced within its 
bounds, old Westmoreland, as called, which then included all 
southwestern Pennsylvania. There were then in it but four 
Presbyterian ministers. Such has been the increase of Pres- 
byterian influence and organization, that by the census of 
1850, there is reported in this district of the Presbyterian 
Church, in all its branches, 204 churches.* 

As has been stated, classical schools were early established by 
the founders of the Redstone Presbytery, at Canonsburg, Wash- 
ington and some other places. These under the patronage of 
the Presbyterian ministers and Scotch Irish settlers of the dis- 
trict, were elevated to the Colleges of Washington and Jefi'er- 
son. Jefi"erson College at Canonsburg has been eminently use- 
ful in extending education in the great west. Its graduates 
have held a high place in the ministry and in the professions of 
law and medicine, and it has given a superior education to many 
respectable citizens of various occupations. Jefferson College 
hes educated nearly six hundred young men for the ministry, 
during fifty-three years of existence, of whom it is said thirty- 
five have entered the foreign field. 

Washington College has also been instrumental in giving the 
country a number of graduates of distinction and usefulness. 
Both these Institutions have been under Presbyterian influence 
and direction. 

There was established many years since, a Theological Sem- 
inary at Canonsburg, under the direction of the Associate Pres- 
byterian Church, and it is still maintained. 

* Allegheny 69, Washington 48, Westmoreland 29, Fayette 19, Green 10, Indiana 29. 



163 

At Pittsburg there was establislied something more than 
thirty years since, the Western University of Pennsylvania, 
which has graduated a large number of students, a great pro- 
portion of whom devoted themselves to the ministry of the Gos- 
pel in one or other branch of the Presbyterian Church. About 
the same time was established in Allegheny City, the Western 
Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, founded by 
its General Assembly, and under its care and direction. It has 
a faculty of able and learned Professors. About the same time 
the Theological Seminary of the Associate Eeformed Church, 
and also the Allegheny Theological Institute of the Reformed 
Presbyterian Church, were established in Allegheny City, be- 
ing Presbyterian Institutions. These have been under the di- 
rection of men distinguished as Theologians, and the purposes of 
the Institutions were to prepare by education, candidates for 
the ministry in their several ecclesiastical associations, in such 
manner as would qualify them for the important office of minis- 
ters of the Gospel. 

In other counties within the district have beon established 
Academies, furnishipg a classical education to those of the coun- 
ty that were desirous of it. 

It is believed that this rural district of Pennsylvania, under 
the workings of its Scotch Irish element, will compare with any 
rural district of the Union, in the advancement of religious in- 
stitutions and Christian instruction, and in intellectual and mor- 
al education, internal improvement, social order, good morals, 
public spirit and patriotism. 

Mr. Day in his Collections, speaking of Washington county, 
says : " That the citizens, generally descendants of the Scotch 
Irish, are noted as orderly, well educated and church going 
people; and the best evidence of this is the number and flour- 
ishing state of the colleges, seminaries and benevolent institu- 
tions of the town and its vicinity."* This commendation is 
from a descendant of the Puritans, who in his historic work, as 
before referred to, has exhibited no partiality for the Scotch 
Isish race of Pennsylvania. 

* Day's Hist. Col., GG4. 



104 

In the early history of this district of Pennsylvania, there is 
a dark side not to be overlooked. The great political and mor- 
al offence committed by a large portion of their people against 
the peace, laws and government of the United States, in the 
years 1792, 3 and 4, by an organized opposition in resistance of 
those laws imposing a tax on the distillation of whiskey, known, 
as the western insurrection or whisky war, was too notorious 
and reprehensible to be allowed to pass into oblivion. The com- 
binations in the counties of Washington and Allegheny were 
large and influential to obstruct the execution of the laws, in 
doing which, violent acts were perpetrated against the persons 
and property of the officers of the national government. The 
opposition commenced with the avowed purpose of having re- 
pealed by Congress, this law, as inexpedient, impolitic, unequal 
and oppressive in its operation and especially obnoxious to the 
people of this district. Yet this was not enough to satisfy the 
views and designs of some unprincipled and ambitious leaders 
who sought a prominence and distinction in public favor, by 
availing themselves of the hostility with the western people to 
this particular law, and excited the prejudices of the people 
against the national government, its measures, and the party 
who administered it, at the head of which government was then 
the father of his country. 

That they might be elevated to power and rule, these dema- 
gogues were willing to involve the country in a civil war, and 
pull down the pillars of the Republic. The tendency of their 
measures was to subvert the government. Though they advo- 
cated in some of their public meetings, military organization 
and resort to arms, yet fortunately for the public peace, there 
were in those meetings some more judicious and honest men, 
who had not cast off their patriotism and allegiance, were not 
ready for "treason or rebellion," and had influence sufficient 
to restrain the people from giving support to the violent and 
treasonable measures of profligate leaders. 

Congress had amended the laws complained of so as to make 
them as little objectionable as was allowable to be effective, and 
the administration had exhausted all its means of concilliation 



165 

with the insurgents without success. The civil authority was 
found totally incompetent to execute the laws and maintain the 
public peace. There was no alternative left to the Executive 
government but a choice between submission to lawless combi- 
nations against the government and laws, or to execute the laws 
passed by the Kepresentatives of the people, in comformity to 
the Constitution, with all the powers confided to the Chief Mag- 
istrate of the Republic. 

The National government, under the Federal constitution, 
was then in its infancy: an experiment on trial; but fortunate- 
ly for the country, at such a crisis, Washington was at the head 
of the government. Whilst the President took measures to call 
out the militia to suppress the insurrection, he expressed his 
deep regret at the occasion, but with the most solemn convic- 
tion, that the essential interests of the Union demanded it, that 
the very existence of the government and the fundamental prin- 
ciples of social order were involved in the issue, tlie insurgents 
were by proclaimation, required to disperse and retire to their 
respective homes. 

The President though firm and decided to execute the laws 
and maintain the government, made, in the midst of prepara- 
tion for military organization, a peaceful effort to bring the dis- 
affected to a sense of their duty, appointing three commission- 
ers of talents and integrity, to repair to the scene of insurrec- 
tion and confer with them, promising amnesty in case of sub- 
mission to the laws. In this they were unsuccessful, and the 
President was under the painful necessity of putting the milita- 
ry force in motion. 

It is not within our proposed limits or purpose to give a de- 
tail of the movements of the insurgents or the military opera- 
tions that became necessary. When the alternative was im- 
posed on Washington as President, of executing the law, and 
maintaining the government, he was as firm and decided as he 
had before been mild and conciliating. His call for a military 
force adequate to the occasion, was cheerfully as well as prompt- 
\y obeyed by the people. By his wise and energetic measures, 
.and the presence of his person, with the army of citizen soldiers 



of all classes and occupations,, tbis forraidafele insurrection wan 
suppressed without bloodshed, and the laws and government 
rbaintained. Bradford, the prominent agitator and leader, made 
his escape as a fugitive from justice, into the Spanish dominions. 
Two other of the principle insurgents, Philip Vegol and Joha 
Mitchell, were tried for treason and found guilty, but after- 
wards pardoned by the President. 

President Washington, in his speech to Congress, remarked 
that the promptitude with which his call for support from his 
fellow citizens had been obeyed, demonstrated that they under- 
stood the true principles of government and liberty, find "that 
notwitstanding all the devices which have been used to sway 
them from their interest and duty, they are now as ready to 
maintain the authority of the law against licentious invasions^ 
as ihey were to defend their rights against usurpation."' 

In the extenuation of the great public offence committed in 
this district, regard must be had to the condition of the coun- 
try and the circumstances of the people at that time. They had; 
during the Revolutionary war, and for many years after, been 
lieft in a great measure defenceless, by both National and 
State governments, which had been disabled by embarrassments 
arising out of the war, to afford the aid required by this isola- 
ted and exposed district. Nothing had been done to improve 
the means of communication or transportation to the eastern 
markets. As agriculturists they could not carry their grain 
entire to market on their pack horses; and because ib could not 
be transported to New Orleans but with great danger, delay 
and uncertainty, they were driven to the necessity of reducing 
the products of their farms to the most portable size by distilla- 
tion. Yet they were not an intemperate people. Intemper- 
ance was not the vice of those times, we are assured by Dr. 
Smith in his history of the Redstone Presbytery.* The oppo- 
sition to the law imposing duties on distillation, was not charge- 
able to any special fondness with the people for the intemperate 
use of whisky. It was the result of a delusion respecting their 
rights, and an impression that they were wrongfully and oj>- 

* Old Redstone, 252. 



167 

pressively taxed in the very article which alone they could turn 
to account in trade and commerce, and thereby secure for them- 
selves and families the very necessaries of life.'.' The delusion 
was fomented and encouraged by the ambitious and proflgate 
leaders, who used it to excite the people against all the meas- 
ures of the National government, and although the mass of the 
people who were disaffected never dreamed of carrying theirop- 
position to the measures of government to forcible resistance, 
yet many, by attending their unlawful assemblies, aided to cre- 
ate a tumultuous and treasonable movement, which they could 
not afterwards repress or allay, as they desired. With the 
leaders it was practical nullification, under their organization 
for reisistance to the execution of the law, by violence to 
and personal abuse of its officers. The abuse by these leaders 
and their partizan confederates, of all who advised moderate 
measures for redress under the constitution, intimidated many 
orderly and law abiding citizens from an expression of their 
opinions. 

In the midst of this great excitement and delusion, there was 
not in any public meeting, a leader so bold as to threaten dis- 
union, or suggest it as desirable or possible. They were well 
aware that the public virtue and patriotism of the country would 
recoil from any decided approach to it; and that the n"an who 
would be so base and unfaithful to his country as to propose it, 
would be made to sink under the weight of public odium, and if 
thereafter notorious, it would be by the finger of public scorn 
directed at him. In those days no one undertook to calculate 
the value of the Union. It was esteemed priceless. It was re- 
served for the small politicians and noisy demagogues of these 
days of boasted progress, to seek elevation and influence in com- 
munities disaffected with some legislation, to talk of and threat- 
en in public assemblies, dissolution of the Union, with as much 
flippancy, presumption and indifference as they would talk of 
dissolving some petty partnership of their own formation. Pub- 
lic virtue and patriotism would seem to be on the wane in our 
experimental republic, when such sentiments are tolerated with- 
out a freneral burst ot indiu;nation. 

It is stated by Dr. Smith in his remarks on that disreputable 



1C8 

public movement in opposition to the government, that few of 
the Presbyterians joined in the movement, and that all their min- 
isters opposed it strenuously and successfully. 

Mr. Findlay, who was somewhat implicated in some of the 
first movements of these unlawful assemblies, states in reference 
to a public meeting at Couche's Fort, "That while they were 
deliberating what was to be done, the E-ev. Mr. Clark, a ven- 
erable and very old clergyman, (of the Presbyterian Church) 
expostulated with them on the impropriety of the enterprise, 
and used his utmost endeavors to dissuade them from it." He 
has also, in his history of that insurrection, borne his testimony 
to "the industry of the clergy, in promoting submission to the 
laws," and states several instances of it. 

Judge Brackenridge who was well acquainted with the influ- 
ences exciting insurrection or dissuading it, states in his history 
that "great pains were taker., particularly by the clergy, in va- 
rious cono-regations, to restrain it. The Rev. Samuel Porter, 
the Rev. John McMillan and others, had from the first, borne 
a decided testimony against the forcible opposition to the laws." 
"Previous to the day of giving the test of submission to the 
government, Mr. Mc]\Iillan having appointed a day for giving 
the sacrament of bread and wine, adjourned the celebration un- 
til it could be known who would submit, meaning to exclude 
those from the ordinance who should remain obstinate and re- 
fuse this declaration of fidelity. He attended himself on the 
day of submission and used his immediate influence." 

James Edgar, an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and one 
of the Associate Judges of Washington county, distinguished 
for sound sense, piety and purity of character as well as for his 
unpretending eloquence, addressed the assemblies of the people 
with great power and influence on the side of the law, public 
order and submission. Dr. Carnahan in his lecture on the whis- 
ky insurrection says of Mr. Edgar: "This truly great and good 
man, little known beyond the precints of Washington county, 
had removed to western Pennsylvania at an early period. He 
had a good English education ; had improved his mind by read- 
ing and reflection, so that in theological and political knowledge 



169 

he was superior to many professional men. He had as clear a 
head and as pure a heart as ever fell to the lot of mortals; and 
he possessed an eloquence, which, although not polished, was 
convincing and persuasive. Yet he lived in retirement on his 
farm, except when the voice of his neighbors called him to serve 
the Church or State. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyte- 
rian Church, and one of the Associate Judges of Washington 
county. I recollect to have heard him at Buffalo, on Monday 
after a sacremental occasion, address a congregation of at least 
two thousand people, on the subject of the insurrection with a 
clearness of argument and solemnity of manner, and a tender- 
ness of Christian eloquence which reached the understanding, 
and penetrated the heart of every hearer. The consequence 
was that very few in his neighborhood were concerned in the 
lawless riots." 

Judge Edgar was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in the 
congregation of Slate Ridge, in 1744, and removed to western 
Pennsylvania in 1779. 

Whilst we have expressed commendation of the principles and 
character of the early settlers of this western district of Penn- 
sylvania, we felt bound to notice the great criminal movement 
in opposition to the laws and public authorities, as detracting 
much from the character of a people of religious, moral and 
law abiding professions. The unlawful and riotous assemblies 
in their midst, with measures of violence, were not only a re- 
proach to all who participated in them as actors, or abetted 
them in any manner, but were a reflection on the community in 
which they were allowed, that there was not in that community 
sufficient religious, moral, law respecting and patriotic influence 
to have restrained the bad men who were amongst them, in 
their wicked and lawless measures against the laws and public 
peace. 

The men who were actors in the insurrectionary movements 
of those days, as well as those who permitted them, have, with 
a rare exception, been carried to their graves with the stigma 
on their skirts, which half a century has not effaced. Their de- 
scendants who are now citizens of those counties, that were the 



170 

tlieatre of these disorderly and criminal proceedings, are an or- 
derly and law abiding people. The deeds of their ancestors, in 
allowing their arms to be raised against their government are- 
only to be remembered to be deplored, and that all such meas- 
ures or an approach to them shall be avoided by them, as the- 
reproach and crime that mark, and are imputable to the ene- 
mies of the Republic. 

It is a grave and important question to be settled by politi- 
cians and statesmen, in time of tranquility, whether clemency 
to offenders against the authority of the laws, and the existence 
of society and government, have not in the administration of 
the federal government, been carried too lar for the peace and 
safety of the public, as well as for the authority of the laws. 
All those who in times past have raised their arms in violence, 
or conspired to resist by force the laws of the government and 
its constituted authorities have been allowed to escape the pen- 
alties of the law for their crimes, through Eecutive clemency 
and pardon. The safety and permanence of the Republic, for- 
bid that an ill judged benevolence shall permit such high crimes 
to be perpetrated with impunity. The necessity of example, for 
such offenders, is as requisite as it is for the lesser crimes, 
against the public peace and security, and if the law, in the 
hands of a faithful Chief Magistrate, be carried into execution 
against insurgents and traitors, the public peace will more rare- 
ly be violated by unlawful assemblies and the existence of society 
and government not be endangered by unlawful organized com- 
binations of men, with their leaders in resistance. With a 
known measure of punishment before them, to be executed upon 
all such offenders, without fear or favor, men will be more sub- 
missive to the constituted authorities and laws passed in con- 
formity to the constitution, and abstain from a resistance that 
will be subdued, whilst the offenders receive the punishment 
inflicted by the law. Partizans and demagogues will be as lit- 
tle disposed then to threaten rebellion, nullification and disunion 
as they would be to boast in public assemblies, of their purpose 
to murder their neighbors, burn their houses, or pick theii^ 
pockets. 



171 

The western insurrection and other unlawful combinations in 
Pennsylvania, to oppose the laws of the Union since its forma- 
tion, are a slur on its citizens and government. If our great 
Commonwealth is to maintain the position in the Union which 
she ought to have in regard to her population and territory, it 
will be necessary, in all time to come to manifest her regard 
for it by repressing, with her own power and authority, every 
appearance amongst her citizens of organized combination, to 
resist by violence and numbers, the execution of the laws of thfr 
National and State governments. 

Let the weight of the law and public authority be laid upon- 
it in its inception, and let a well directed public sentiment sus- 
tain the public officers in the faithful execution of their duty,, 
without regard to party or political associations and names» 
By so doing the riotous insurgent, the wicked traitor and tur- 
bulent demagogue will learn that their criminal measures and 
designs against the government of the people and its free insti- 
tutions will be as futile as they are infamous. 

From the Scotch Irish settlements of eastern, middle and 
western Pennsylvania have emigrated in countless numbers, in- 
telligent, resolute and energetic descendants of Irish and Scotch 
ancestors, who for the last half century, have contributed great- 
ly to settle and make up the population of many western States 
bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi. 

They located themselves beside the descendants of the Puri- 
tans, as well as others of German origin. The communities 
thus formed have been harmonious, respectable and influential, 
giving tone to public morals, political sentiment, social advant- 
ages, elevated education and religious organizations. The de- 
scendants of the Irish and Scotch, in whatever district they 
may have cast their lot and fixed their stakes, are amongst the 
most prominent, virtuous, religious, active, useful, industrious 
and enterprising of the community. They have proved by their 
faith and works that they are not of ignoble blood and descent, 
nor below any class of the citizens of this land with whom they 
may be compared in their principles, virtuous habits and pub- 
lic usefulness, or in those of their ancestors. 



.^-M:: 



172 

Thougli Pennsylvania has not elevated one of her own sons 
to the Presidency of the United States, yet the Scotch Irish 
race of the Union has furnished to that Presidency three of our 
Presidents and a majority of the United States Senators, since 
the organization of the federal government. They have also 
from their ranks in Pennsylvania, given to our Commonwealth 
five of her Governors, and a majority of the men who have 
composed and still compose, the Supreme and other Courts of 
the State. 

In all stations under the National or State governments, civ- 
il or military, the men of this race have generally been promi- 
nent, eminent, patriotic and faithful, wise, judicious and delib- 
erate in council, resolute, unwavering and inflexible in the dis- 
charge of duty ; and when called by their country to face the 
public enemy in arms, there were none more brave, fearless 
and intrepid. 

It is hoped that the compilers of Pennsylvania History, here- 
after, in their review of the progress of improvement in our 
great Commonwealth in education, arts, science and manufac- 
tures; in the promotion of elevated religious and Christian in- 
fluence ; in the establishment of seminaries of learning, and in the 
construction of great inland improvements for travel and trans- 
portation, will inquire into the authors and founders of these 
institutions, influences and improvements, investigate their pre- 
tensions, and do justice at least to their merits and memory. 
Let them not presume to give point to a paragraph by heaping 
on a whole race some stale and unjust reproach from a bygone 
calumniator and enemy. 

It behoves the men of Pennsylvania who have State pride 
and emulation, and appreciate her prosperty and greatness, as 
well as the labors, services and sacrifices of ancestors who did 
so much to lay the foundation of that prosperity and greatness, 
to stand by her own men, and manifest for their memory the 
great reverence which they so emininently deserve. 

*In 1856, since this Tribute was prepared, James Buchanan, a distinguished citizen 
of Pcnna., of Scotch Irish descent, was chosen Presiddnt of the United States. 



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JUM 1988 

BBRKEEPER h 



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PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, L.P. 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 








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^ AUG 89 

W^ N. AflANCHESTER, 



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